He made the rounds on ESPN yesterday. He had some eyebrow raising things to say.

When asked if Tannehill is close to being an elite QB, Jennings basically said that he doesn't know, that he can't tell because RT has been "babied and handcuffed so far in his career."

He would also not commit to saying RT was a great or even good QB. He went on to say that he has caught passes from players like Rodgers and Favre and he can't place RT in that group when it comes to ability.

Now I think it is important to understand that Jennings is sour about his numbers last year and how dramatically they dropped off in comparison to his career averages. He was basically a 60-75 catch guy in 2013, 2014 seasons, and he only had 19 catches for the phins since being signed.

Jennings is due 3.5 million in base salary next year and has a 5.5 million cap hit coming with him. Based on that and his willingness to go on ESPN and basically throw his QB under a bus, I think he is a former dolphin in all but the literal sense. Miami cuts this guy loose as soon as they can.

Another failed wide out signing. 3 million bonus to sign the guy last year down the drain.

My hope is that Gase let's Tannehill go off the rails a bit, and gives him the chance to either go to the next level or fail. Keeping a guy like RT, a 1st round supposed franchise QB, sheltered against failure by keeping the plays safe and simplistic is a huge reason why we haven't seen RT go off like I think he has the ability to do. Given that he put up solid numbers last year, I'm very keen on seeing what he can do when the training wheels finally drop off.

FootballGod Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> He made the rounds on ESPN yesterday. He had some
> eyebrow raising things to say.
>
> When asked if Tannehill is close to being an elite
> QB, Jennings basically said that he doesn't know,
> that he can't tell because RT has been "babied and
> handcuffed so far in his career."
>
> He would also not commit to saying RT was a great
> or even good QB. He went on to say that he has
> caught passes from players like Rodgers and Favre
> and he can't place RT in that group when it comes
> to ability.
>

It's not exactly a revelation to acknowledge that Tannehill is not a HOF QB. Ryan Tannehill has never had a "great" season so it doesn't surprise me for someone to be reluctant to call him that.

> Now I think it is important to understand that
> Jennings is sour about his numbers last year and
> how dramatically they dropped off in comparison to
> his career averages. He was basically a 60-75
> catch guy in 2013, 2014 seasons, and he only had
> 19 catches for the phins since being signed.

> Jennings is due 3.5 million in base salary next
> year and has a 5.5 million cap hit coming with
> him. Based on that and his willingness to go on
> ESPN and basically throw his QB under a bus, I
> think he is a former dolphin in all but the
> literal sense. Miami cuts this guy loose as soon
> as they can.

Jennings was a Joe Philbin favorite and doesn't strike me as a player who would be malicious in talking about anyone. I think he knows his career is over and he is more likely lobbying for a network job. That being said, I think he was 100% honest even though he could have worded his response differently.

>
> Another failed wide out signing. 3 million bonus
> to sign the guy last year down the drain.

It was basically a one year, 4 mil deal. It's also 4 mil saved in cap space this year.

But you are right, it was waste and FO mistake unless you give him value for just being a veteran presence/mentor and good locker room guy. That money probably would have been better spent on Rishard Mathews.

I think this team may look very different next year. Shockingly so on the defensive side as well.

Even with rumors of the Dolphins talking extension with Wake, I see him being cut to save money to resign Vernon. I also predict Misi and Grimes both being cut. Misi to me isn't comparable to what we could find elsewhere and Grimes is getting worse every year now due to age.

So those cuts on D, Jennings gone and I read rumors that Cameron is potentially gone as well. It looks like it will be a different team next year indeed, with a few needed replacements coming in. I just hope someone who we sign exceeds expectations. I'm damned tired of watching this FO sign a free agent and watch said free agent under perform.

I don't think he said anything wrong. He was pretty much saying that you don't know if Tannehill is close to being a franchise caliber guy because the coaches never let him do the things that QB's need to do to hit that next level.

If he had a body of work, making those decisions and leading the team appropriately, then you could make a determination how close or far away he is to guys like Favre and Rodgers. But since he doesn't, then by definition, he can't be close.

That's why Jennings said what he did and then said, "well, I guess if I'm saying that I don't know if he's close, it means that he's not. Because if he was close, you'd know it."

But I agree with Joe, there's no doubt that Tannehill is never going to be a HOF QB. The only question is whether or not he'll be serviceable enough to have a couple of strong seasons to grab a championship. Reportedly, Philbin saw enough two years to realize that wasn't ever going to be the case. And even if that is the only assessment that Philbin ever got correct, it just makes him look even worse considering the Dolphins knew more about Tannehill than anybody else, brought in his former coach to run the same system, and two years into the Pro's suddenly wanted to do a 180 and go with another guy.

Any opinion Philbin had I generally dismiss as crap because he was a lose and a failure, not to mention a moron atanagment.

FootballGod Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Any opinion Philbin had I generally dismiss as
> crap because he was a lose and a failure, not to
> mention a moron at managment.


I obviously feel the same way.