Tag: Ryan Tannehill

Broncos named best landing spot for ex-Titans QB Ryan Tannehill

PFF believes the Broncos are the best fit for ex-Titans QB Ryan Tannehill in free agency.

The Tennessee Titans have officially entered the Will Levis era, meaning that quarterback Ryan Tannehill will be moving on to a different team in 2024.

Tannehill was traded to the Titans in March 2019 and the original plan was to be the backup to Marcus Mariota. However, in Week 6 of that season, the former Texas A&M standout took over in the second half.

And the rest, as they say, is history — Tannehill guided the Titans to the AFC Championship Game and was named the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year.

In five years with Tennessee, Tannehill had his ups and downs but experienced a career rejuvenation overall, highlighted by his 2020 season that saw him throw for 3,819 yards and a 33-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

At this point in his career, the 36-year-old can still play in the National Football League. Any team needing a bridge quarterback while allowing a young player to develop and learn behind a veteran could (and should) openly welcome Tannehill to their locker room.

As such, Pro Football Focus‘ Brad Spielberger pegged the Denver Broncos, a team that could be in that exact situation, as the best landing spot for Tannehill. 

Tannehill will be 36 years old in 2024, coming off a $27 million salary on the final year of his extension signed in 2020, but he could still be a bridge starter to a young quarterback, much like he was this past season with the Tennessee Titans and Will Levis. Tannehill is a good athlete who wins off play action and with solid intermediate accuracy on rollouts. His pressure-to-sack rate has been too high for a few years now, but in his defense, he was operating behind a very porous offensive line with a pass-catching corps that did not create quick separation.

With Denver moving on from Russell Wilson this offseason, the Broncos’ quarterbacks on the roster going into the 2024 NFL draft are Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci. 

With that room, Denver feels like a surefire bet to take a quarterback at some point, whether that be with the No. 12 overall pick or in the later rounds (the Broncos don’t have a second-round pick).

However, the Broncos may have to move up from No. 12 for some of the best quarterbacks in the draft, which isn’t guaranteed. If that fails, they could pounce on the second wave of signal-callers, a group that features player that may need more time to develop. 

Players like that could stand to watch how a veteran like Tannehill handles himself and the locker room while learning under his tutelage. 

Besides, who wouldn’t want to see Tanne-wheels at a mile high?

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Bears named best fit for ex-Titans QB Ryan Tannehill

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell believes the Bears are the best fit for ex-Titans QB Ryan Tannehill in free agency.

We’re officially through a full week of 2024 NFL free agency and there hasn’t been a peep about former Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who remains available in free agency.

In a recent article listing the best team fits for 20 remaining free agents, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell connected Tannehill to the Chicago Bears.

Here’s his thought process:

Best fit: Chicago Bears. The depth chart in Chicago consists of Tyson Bagent and Brett Rypien. Tannehill’s not going to push likely No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams for the starting job, but a little bit of veteran experience in the quarterback room wouldn’t hurt.

With the Bears expected to take USC’s Caleb Williams at No. 1 overall in the 2024 NFL draft, having a veteran quarterback like Tannehill in the room wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Tannehill received plenty of flack for saying it wasn’t his job to mentor Malik Willis after the Titans drafted the Liberty product in 2022, but that comment was blown out of proportion and the veteran signal-caller was in a much different spot in his career, as he was still Tennessee’s starter.

At the end of the day, it’s the responsibility of the coaching staff to bring along a young quarterback, not his teammates.

Tannehill would enter a situation in Chicago in which he’d be the backup, and likely with the understanding that part of his job is to help Williams in any way that he can, which would be valuable.

Not to mention, if Williams gets hurt for any length of time, Tannehill is a great option for the Bears to have to keep the team afloat during a season in which Chicago will no doubt have playoff aspirations.

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Projected market values for Titans’ most notable pending free agents

The projected market value for the Titans’ most notable pending free agents.

Believe it or not, we are a little over one week away from the start of free agency, which unofficially begins with the start of the legal tampering period on Monday, March 11, and officially begins on Wednesday, March 13.

Unlike last year, this is an exciting time for the Tennessee Titans, as the team is flush with cap space after having to dig into the couch for loose change last offseason.

In fact, the Titans’ $75.6 million in cap space ranks fourth in the NFL, according to Over the Cap, and that’s before Tennessee makes any cuts.

The Titans figure to bring in at least some help in free agency, but they will also bring back some of their own free agents, a list that includes 26 players.

We’ve already shared our thoughts on what the Titans should do with each of those players. You can check out defensive players here, offensive players here and specialists here, in case you missed those articles.

With free agency almost here, we thought we’d take a look at the projected market values for each of the Titans’ most notable pending free agents, all of whom will officially hit the open market on March 13.

The projected market values for each player are courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Spotrac, when available.

Ranking the top FA QBs for the Steelers by market value

The market for quarterbacks is all about how much the Steelers want to spend.

If the Pittsburgh Steelers decide they aren’t content with Kenny Pickett as the starting quarterback, they could end up looking to free agency for a starter. Here are the five best options for the Steelers based on market value as estimated by Spotrac.

Titans’ list of dead cap hits before making roster cuts

The Titans currently lead the league in dead money and could add to that total if they make cuts.

As the Tennessee Titans attempted to keep a winning team on the field in recent years, they’ve gotten into the business of adding void years to the contracts of free agents they sign and players they restructure.

As a result, it has led to the team having no shortage of dead money over the last two offseasons. One year after landing in the top 10 in that category, the Titans currently sit with the most dead cap in the NFL at $31.8 million, per Over the Cap, which is $7 million more than any other team.

Lest we forget, Tennessee hasn’t made any cuts yet, something the team is expected to do with at least one player in left tackle Andre Dillard. So, the dead money figure will go up.

A notable deadline passed for the Titans recently. The team had until Monday to extend players with void years in their contracts, which would have given Tennessee the opportunity to push the money into future years.

Instead, Tennessee did not extend any of the players on that list, which included running back Derrick Henry, quarterback Ryan Tannehill, linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and cornerback Sean Murphy Bunting.

The Titans can still re-sign any of the four (Tannehill is the only one with zero shot to return), but now the aforementioned void year money will be tacked on to the 2024 salary cap on top of whatever the team pays them should Tennessee decide to bring any of them back.

But those four players aren’t the only ones who will account for dead money in 2024. Here’s a look at the entire list and how much each are on the books for, according to Over the Cap.

Where Titans signal-callers landed in NFL.com QB rankings

Titans QBs were placed near the middle of the pack on a list ranking every QB who started at least one game in 2023.

The Tennessee Titans had an interesting year at the quarterback position, with the team seeing a changing of the guard at the most important spot in the NFL.

Veteran Ryan Tannehill began the year as the starter but struggled, which can partly be blamed on a terrible offensive line and lackluster receiving corps. Tannehill will be playing elsewhere in 2024.

After Tannehill came down with an ankle injury, 2023 second-round pick Will Levis took over and never relinquished the job. The rookie definitely showed his warts but also provided exciting flashes that has the Titans’ fanbase excited for the future.

While all this was going on, 2022 third-round pick Malik Willis was mostly an afterthought.

After a rough rookie campaign in which he had to overcome both his own deficiencies and those around him, the Liberty product made one relief appearance for Tannehill and showed no signs of improvement.

And that resulted in Levis leapfrogging him for the starting job once Tannehill went down.

In a recent article ranking quarterbacks who made at least one start in 2023, Nick Shook of NFL.com placed Levis at No. 33 out of 66, just one spot ahead of Tannehill. Here’s what Shook said about Levis:

Because of an injury to Ryan Tannehill, Levis got his chance to earn the job earlier than most probably expected. It included a bumpy road typical of a rookie quarterback, especially against opponents who blitzed him relentlessly, but after the dust of 2023 has settled, I like Levis’ prospects in Nashville going forward. The kid has guts, an explosive arm and the moxie needed to make it in this league, as evidenced by his wild comeback win over Miami in prime time. Tennessee’s front office will need to help him by surrounding him with quality talent, of course, but don’t sleep on Levis. There’s something there.

Of course, Willis did not make a start last season, so he wasn’t on the list. That said, he would have been ranked near the bottom, anyway.

An argument can certainly made for Levis to be ahead of some of the signal-callers who are in front of him, but expect a low placement on rankings for the rest of the offseason, as Levis still has to prove himself before we can cement him as the franchise quarterback he’s shown signs of being.

At least he was ranked ahead of Tannehill, though, which is absolutely the right call after Levis outperformed the veteran by a fairly wide margin.

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What Titans should do with pending free agents on offense

The Titans have 11 pending free agents on the offensive side of the ball. Here’s our verdict for what they should do with each.

The Tennessee Titans have a grand total of 26 pending free agents to make decisions on this offseason, with 11 of them coming on the offensive side of the ball.

With a new head coach in Brian Callahan, whose philosophy centers around being a more pass-heavy offense, the Titans are expected to transition from a run-heavy unit, especially after the emergence of quarterback Will Levis.

As a result, their priorities on that side of the ball have changed from what they were with Mike Vrabel at the helm, which could have a significant impact on their decision-making with their free agents.

With the start of free agency less than one month away, we’re taking a look at each of Tennessee’s pending free agents on offense to make a determination about who should stay and who should go.

Here’s what we came up with:

Ranking 2024’s top 12 free-agent quarterbacks

Here are the top 12 quarterbacks who are about to hit the open market

The Carolina Panthers certainly won’t be on the lookout for a quarterback this offseason—at least as far as their main roster is concerned. But let’s rank the ones who are about to hit the open market anyway.

Here are the top 12 free-agent quarterbacks of the 2024 offseason:

Pros and cons of the Steelers top veteran QB options

Here are some of the Steelers most popular options for a veteran QB.

As free agency approaches, it really feels like the Pittsburgh Steelers are not going to be content with Kenny Pickett as their starting quarterback. Removing the 2024 NFL draft from the equation for now, here is how the top veteran options break down.

6 Quarterbacks Minnesota Vikings could target in free agency

Whether it’s Kirk Cousins or someone else, the Minnesota Vikings are likely to address the QB position in some fashion during NFL free agency. Here’s a look at the top six potential fits.

For better or worse, the 2024 Minnesota Vikings could potentially look a lot different than the team that took the field in 2023. The 2023 team had a ton of talent across the board, but was hamstrung by unforced errors and some unfortunate injury luck – particularly with starting quarterback Kirk Cousins. Once Cousins went down, the Vikings could not get consistent play at the position, and that undermined any chance the team had at a postseason run.

General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has an interesting choice he has to make in the offseason with regards to the quarterback position. On the one hand, he could make the decision to bring back Cousins for another run. Cousins has been prolific during his time in Minnesota, and it’s clear how much better the offense runs with him calling the shots as opposed to someone else.

On the other hand, the team hasn’t been able to achieve success with Cousins at the helm, having failed to make a Super Bowl run during his tenure in Minneapolis. Furthermore, Cousins will be 36 years old, coming off a significant Achilles’ tendon injury, and is going to command a fairly high price tag in free agency.

Someone is likely to pay that price for Cousins, but will that team be Minnesota? Should it be Minnesota? If it’s not Minnesota, what are the other options at the position? Let’s take a look at the potential 2024 NFL free agent market and the top options at quarterback