The Dolphins drafted Ryan Tannehill with the idea that he’d be the long-term starting quarterback. But unlike the two quarterbacks drafted before him, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, Tannehill doesn’t look ready to start right away.
The Palm Beach Post reports that Tannehill is not in the running for the starting job right now because he made too many mistakes at minicamp, and new Dolphins coach Joe Philbin has stressed the importance of his quarterbacks avoiding turnovers. At the moment, Tannehill looks like the No. 3 quarterback behind David Garrard and Matt Moore.
Moore is the incumbent starter in Miami, but there’s talk that Garrard is currently the favorite to win the starting job, even though he’s coming off back surgery and didn’t play at all last year. If Garrard is healthy, that makes sense: Although Moore played well down the stretch in Miami last year, Garrard is the most accomplished of the three quarterbacks.
And Tannehill is the one who has the most to learn. Even though Tannehill has a leg up on the offense because he played for Dolphins offensive coordinator Mike Sherman in college, it appears unlikely that he can learn the ins and outs of the pro game quickly enough to be ready to start in two months.