NASHVILLE — While the praise may not fully be where Titans fans want it to be on a national scale, Ryan Tannehill is turning a lot of heads as a starting quarterback here in Tennessee.
It’s no secret that the Titans turnaround from one of the more frustrating offenses to watch in NFL history to one of the most explosive offenses in the league was launched when Tannehill took over for Marcus Mariota at quarterback last season.
The Titans have done a whole lot of winning since then. So, where does Tannehill rank among NFL quarterbacks since he took over as the starter for the Titans? ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky joined us Thursday on Robby & Rexrode to offer his thoughts:
“Here’s the thing, you can’t run from numbers and tape when it comes to sports, mainly football,” Orlovsky said. “You can sometimes run from tape and you can sometimes run from numbers, but when both of them are screaming at you that this is what this player is or this is who he is, people need to start looking at things from a different lens than they have in their past. The reality is this…..since Ryan Tannehill became quarterback with the Titans he’s a top-five player at the position. He’s a top-five player at the position.
“If we’re going to judge quarterbacks by a thousand different things, money-making moments are the biggest. Fourth quarter, what do you do? Third down, what do you do? Red zone, what do you do? And then do you either execute our X’s and O’s at a ridiculous level, or can you go above them? And Tannehill hits all four of those situations, top-five performance-wise. People still think he’s the bust that Miami labeled him as.”
Tannehill has been fantastic since he took over as the starting quarterback for the Titans. But is he really a Top 5 quarterback in the NFL as Orlovsky suggests? You can certainly make a compelling argument.
Here are my Top 5 quarterbacks in the NFL as we sit here today:
- Patrick Mahomes
I think it would be tough to put anybody above Mahomes right now. He’s the reigning Super Bowl MVP and I’m of the opinion he and the Chiefs are once again at the front of the line in terms of Super Bowl contenders. Through seven games, he has an absurd 16-1 TD-INT ratio. The fact of the matter is we may have never seen a player before quite like Mahomes. He’s special.
- Russell Wilson
Wilson could be playing the best football of his career so far this season, which is saying something. There’s a popular talking point out there right now pointing out that Wilson has never even received a vote for league MVP so far in his career. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that changes this season as long as he remains healthy. He could be the leader in the clubhouse at this point in the season, leading the league with 22 touchdowns and a 119.5 rating.
- Aaron Rodgers
So much for the demise of Rodgers. He’s already thrown for at least four touchdowns in four games so far in 2020 and is doing so without a plethora of weapons at receiver. Davante Adams is one of the top receivers in the game, but just imagine what the offense could look like with a proven legitimate wide receiver to go along with him.
- Ryan Tannehill
I don’t think it’s a stretch to put Tannehill in this category right now based on his numbers since taking over as Tennessee’s starter (37-7 TD-INT ratio in 16 games). Tannehill has four game-winning drives so far this season and has been lights-out in the red zone. With a 68.5% completion percentage, 7.8 yards-per-attempt, 15 touchdowns and two interceptions, Tannehill’s numbers don’t lie.
- Lamar Jackson
The reigning NFL MVP is perhaps the most exciting quarterback to watch in the NFL with all of the different things he can do. He’s a human highlight reel when he decides to pull the ball down and run with it. We’ve seen very few players as gifted athletically as he is at quarterback in NFL history. Oh, and by the way, he can absolutely throw the ball. He’s got 10 touchdowns through the air and two interceptions while completing 63 percent of his balls this year. The only question Jackson has left to answer in my opinion: can he lead the Ravens to come-from-behind victories following early deficits? He hasn’t had to do that a whole lot in this system and with that defense. He’ll eventually have to if the Ravens want to win big.
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