How a series of ACL tears derailed Ryan Tannehill's career

Ryan Tannehill's NFL career is one that, in retrospect, is sad and disappointing, for factors in his influence and factors he simply couldn't control. And while he is still playing, the reality is his days as a starting quarterback in the NFL are most likely over. So what happened? How did the projected franchise savior for the Miami Dolphins turn into a mediocre at best quarterback in the NFL? Let's find out.

Ryan Tannehill was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft, with the 8th overall pick. Many analysts at the time condemned the Dolphins for what they viewed as a bad pick, as many had felt Tannehill was too much of a project quarterback to be picked that high in the draft. Analysts called him "raw"- which essentially means he has NFL talent but would suck for a couple of years. And they did have a point. While Tannehill would most likely become an NFL starter, the situation he was being drafted into needed him to essentially carry the team from the first day. And unfortunately, the analysts were correct. His first two seasons in the league saw him throw for 7,207 yards at a 59.35% completion rate, and 36 touchdowns to 30 interceptions. He was inefficient and just not good in his first 2 years, and it showed in his team's record: the Dolphins went 15-17 in his first two years. And is this unfair to blame Tannehill? Absolutely, he was still developing, but at the end of the day, he was responsible for his team's success, as that's the role of a quarterback. And he just couldn't do that.

But the next three years were different. From 2014-2016, Tannehill was taking leaps and bounds from his first two years. Statistically, he was much improved. He threw for 11,248 yards at a 65.13% completion rate, and a whopping 70 touchdowns to 36 interceptions. Simply put, he was playing pretty freakin' well. But his team wasn't. During that same three-year stretch, when Tannehill played, the Dolphins went 22-23, without a playoff berth (when he played, this will be important in a second). And while he was good individually, he couldn't carry his team to success, which was his job in Miami and ultimately reflected on him. Simply put, he just couldn't get the job done. Again, it might be a little unfair, but that was his job.

But during the end of that three-year span, during the 2016-2017 NFL season, something was different. Tannehill and the Dolphins were actually good. In fact, Tannehill was 8-5 when he played during the season, with 2,995 yards at a 67.1% completion rate, with 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. And while it wasn't the 4,000-yard season he was having last year, he was just better. He was more calculated with his throws, picked apart defenses better, and most importantly, he carried his team to a winning record. In fact, as of Week 14 of that season, the Dolphins were projected for a wild-card berth for the playoffs that year. Everything was going amazingly for Tannehill and the Dolphins. Until everything came crashing down.

On December 11th, 2016, Tannehill's NFL career would drastically change. On a first and-10 snap from his own 35-yard line, he dropped back to throw it to receiver Dion Sims and got an 11-yard completion. But while he was releasing the ball, Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell hit Tannehill right on his left knee. The result?

A full ACL tear. As you can see by the picture, Tannehill's knee bent very awkwardly when he was hit, and just looking at the picture can all but confirm a serious knee injury. This was truly the point in Tannehill's career that changed everything for him.

After the game, the team ruled him out for the rest of the season, revealing he had completely torn his ACL during this play. Now, this put Miami in a very precarious situation; they were a playoff team that had just lost their starting quarterback, who was arguably one of the better QBs in the league. But luckily for Miami, they had longtime backup Matt Moore, who stepped in and did his job in place for Tannehill. During his 5 games in 2016 replacing Tannehill (including the Wild Card round loss to the Steelers), he threw for 1,010 yards at a 66.23% completion rate, with 9 touchdown throws and 4 interceptions. He did everything he needed to do to guide the Dolphins to the playoffs and set up a Wild Card matchup with the Steelers. Unfortunately, Miami lost in the Wild Card round, ending a season that ended disappointingly but was an overall sign of optimism. I mean, they got to the playoffs without their starting quarterback, so imagine how good they'll be with him right? After all, he'll be fit to play in week one of next season, right?

Wrong.

To the dismay of Miami Dolphins fans, players, and personnel everywhere, tragedy struck again during training camp. On August 3rd, 2017, Ryan Tannehill was scrambling on a play when we went down. It was reportedly a non-contact injury, meaning that the injury occurred due to a sudden movement. This made the news worse, all but confirming an ACL tear. And this time, it was so severe that Tannehill missed the entire 2017-2018 NFL season. During this season, the Miami Dolphins brought in quarterback Jay Cutler to guide the team, and it's safe to say that they absolutely sucked. In the 14 games he played in, he threw for 2,666 yards at a 62% completion rate, with 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. While this isn't bad play by Cutler by any means, his team sucked, as Miami went 6-8 when he started. It was safe to say that the Dolphins definitely missed Tannehill.

Tannehill came back to the Dolphins for the 2018-2019 season, his last season with Miami. To put it simply, Tannehill just wasn't the same anymore. In the 11 games he played (started obviously), he threw for 1,979 yards at a 64.2% completion rate, with 17 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Safe to say, he played well below his average. He was absolutely, totally, definitely washed. In fact, he was so washed that the Dolphins decided to trade him away to the Tennessee Titans, officially marking the end of an era in Miami.

With Tennessee, Tannehill enjoyed some success in his first few years with the team, for his first three years in Tennessee, he threw for 10,308 yards at a 67.6% completion rate, with 76 touchdowns and 28 interceptions. And while he put up great statistics and his team went 30-13 during those first three years, when watching those games you could clearly tell it wasn't him becoming the second coming of Tom Brady. He was put in a good situation with one of the best running backs in the league, and a deadly receiving corps. His numbers weren't because of his excellent play, they were because of the insane amount of talent around him. This became very apparent during the 2022-2023 season when top wideout A.J. Brown was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles. During this season, he threw for 2,536 yards at a 65.2% completion rate, with 13 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Also, he was benched for the last 5 games due to awful performance.

And his drop-offs in performance in both Miami and Tennessee can be explained by one very simple thing: the injuries themselves. Even with the hyper-advanced medicine of today, ACL tears can still mess up an athlete's entire career. Even with all the access to state-of-the-art rehab facilities, it still takes time to come back from a major injury (let alone two in quick succession) and knock off that rust. That challenge becomes infinitely harder when you play quarterback in the NFL. And Ryan Tannehill is a perfect example of this. What was once a promising career that looked to finally take the Dolphins back to title contention turned into a career marred by misfortune. And aside from the teams losing out, poor Ryan Tannehill. The guy was supposed to be him, but now is the unfortunate poster child of what injuries can do to one's career.