Ryan Tannehill was a high level quarterback when he was taken by the Dolphins in the first round, and he has been successful in leading the Dolphins offense for the past few years now, as he has started 48 games for Joe Philbin as these two men will probably be tied together for years to come.
But on Monday he signed a nice new contract. Out of the blue, he signed a deal that extends him through the 2020 season and totals $96 million. This is probably in large part due to the fact that 2014 was his best NFL season to date and the quarterback position is an essential position in the league. It is better to lock him up now then worry about him potentially going elsewhere or wanting to play out the last year of his deal and get overpaid like Joe Flacco did. In 2014, Tannehill threw for 4,045 yards with 27 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions. He only had 2 games where he threw for over 300 yards, so he was very balanced throughout the season.
The Miami Dolphins have known what it is like to have a Franchise quarterback, They had Bob Griese from 1967-1979, and then Dan Marino from 1983-1999. Since the Marino era the Dolphins have rummaged through several quarterbacks. The list of Dolphins starting quarterbacks between Marino and Tannehill is Jay Fielder, Ray Lucas, Brian Griese, A.J. Feeley, Sage Rosenfels, Gus Frerotte, Joey Harrington, Daunte Culpepper, Cleo Lemon, Trent Green, John Beck, Chad Pennington, Chad Henne, Tyler Thigpen, and Matt Moore. While some people could easily argue that Ryan Tannehill may not be a top ten quarterback in the league, he is a considerable upgrade over every quarterback between Marino and himself.
His receiving corps has changed quite a bit this off-season, and it is going to be on Tannehill's shoulders to make sure that he can handle the pressure of the passing offense as he is the main star. He does have a nice deep threat with Kenny Stills, a new red zone target in Jordan Cameron, and a strong rookie receiver in DeVante Parker. It will be intriguing to see just what will happen with the Dolphins offense as they are going to fit all the piece together with the bright minds of Joe Philbin and Bill Lazor. If they can't get it together though, the firings of the general manager and head coach could easily be coming down the pipe from ownership.