The improvement of the Tennessee Titans’ offense with Ryan Tannehill under center in 2019 was substantial, as the former No. 8 overall pick played like one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Prior to his taking over in Week 7, the Titans were scoring just 16.3 points per game and had a stagnant offense, but in the 10 games that followed, Tennessee was scoring 30.4 points per contest and saw a new level of explosiveness this franchise hasn’t seen in quite some time.
Tannehill’s individual stats were impressive, also. He led the NFL in passer rating and yards per attempt, and finished third in completion percentage. Tannehill ended up with 2,742 yards and 22 touchdowns to six picks, ultimately earning him the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award.
For his efforts, the Titans inked Tannehill to a four-year, $118 million extension earlier in the offseason.
Based on annual average value, his deal made him the ninth-highest-paid quarterback in the NFL at the time, but he has since fallen to No. 10 after Patrick Mahomes got his mega extension from the Kansas City Chiefs.
But according to Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon, that is still too much and makes Tannehill the team’s most overpaid player.
It takes a seriously questionable deal to trump the five-year, $61.3 million contract possessed by quickly fading cornerback Malcolm Butler, but that’s what the Tennessee Titans have gotten themselves into with Tannehill.
The soon-to-be 32-year-old just became the ninth-highest-paid player in NFL history, even though he hasn’t started more than 13 games in a season since 2015, he didn’t make his first Pro Bowl until he was 31 and he’s lacked consistency and durability for much of his eight-year career.
Tannehill was the league’s highest-rated passer as a 10-game starter in 2019, but is that sustainable for a guy who has always been hot and cold? And how much did he benefit from the presence of a smoking hot Derrick Henry?
It’s fair not to trust Tannehill, who is making twice as much per year as anyone else on the Tennessee roster except standout left tackle Taylor Lewan ($16 million).
While it’s true the Titans gave Tannehill a lot of money off just a small sample size, if he can continue playing the way he did in his first year in Nashville, the extension will be well-deserved and more than worth it.
With that said, it’s still very premature to call Tannehill the Titans’ most overpaid player, as he hasn’t taken the field yet since signing his new contract.
One player we have seen a good amount of already and can make a judgement on is cornerback Malcolm Butler, who Gagnon briefly mentions in his write-up.
Butler has spent two seasons with the Titans and has failed to live up to his five-year, $61.25 million contract, which has an annual average salary of $12.25 million, the 11th-highest figure among cornerbacks.
In his first season, Butler got off to a rocky start to say the least, but was able to rebound in the final eight games. In 2019, the veteran was only able to play in nine games before suffering a wrist injury that knocked him out the rest of the way.
Even when he was on the field, Butler wasn’t exactly the shutdown corner you’d expect to get for that sum of money. Butler (64.2) posted a worse Pro Football Focus grade than fellow veteran corner Johnathan Joseph (65.0), someone the Titans signed to a one-year, $2 million contract this offseason.
Until we see Tannehill regress significantly from what he did last season, it’s impossible to call him the team’s most overpaid player. That distinction, for now, should go to someone who we have a bit more tape on, like Butler.
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