You can take a potential landing spot for Tom Brady off the board. According to a report from the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Tennessee Titans and quarterback Ryan Tannehill agreed to a contract extension:
Sources: The #Titans and QB Ryan Tannehill have agreed to terms on an extension. He’s staying in Tennessee. Their priority all along.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 15, 2020
The report from Rapoport matched reporting from earlier in the day, and really through the off-season, from ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Dianna Russini:
As @diannaESPN alluded to, Titans and Ryan Tannehill are now on the verge of a new multi-year extension that would prevent Tennessee from using its franchise tag on the quarterback and keep him as the team’s starter moving forward, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 15, 2020
ESPN’s Jeff Darlington had the terms of the extension:
Ryan Tannehill has agreed to terms on a new four-year contract with the Titans, per source. Here’s the numbers:
$118m total
$29.5m average per year
$62m full guarantee
$91m total guaranteeBIG deal for Tannehill!
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) March 15, 2020
And the quarterback himself took to Twitter with a rallying cry for the Nashville faithful:
Tennessee let’s run it back 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 #TITANUP pic.twitter.com/rydM0LSoEN
— Ryan Tannehill (@ryantannehill1) March 15, 2020
Last season Tannehill took over for an ineffective Marcus Mariota and led the Titans to a berth in the AFC Championship Game. During his ten regular season starts last year, Tannehill guided the Titans to seven victories and a Wild Card berth. The Titans won back-to-back upsets on the road, defeating the New England Patriots in the Wild Card Round and the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round.
Tannehill was extremely efficient last season, completing over 70% of his passes for 2,742 yards and 22 touchdowns, with just six interceptions. His Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt of 8.52 was tops in the league, beating out both Patrick Mahomes and Drew Brees.
This extension gives Tennessee the chance to use the franchise tag on running back Derrick Henry. Under the terms of the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which was narrowly approved by the players this weekend, each team can use just one tag (either the franchise or transition tag) each season.
As for Brady, his possible landing spots might be down to a few teams: The New England Patriots, the Los Angeles Chargers, the Las Vegas Raiders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.