Ryan Tannehill, Titans agree to a four-year, $118 million contract
By John Buhler
Ryan Tannehill will be back with the Tennessee Titans, as he has signed an extension to remain the starting quarterback ahead of his impending free agency.
Ryan Tannehill isn’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future.
According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Tennessee Titans have agreed to an extension to bring their starting quarterback on a long-term contract. It will be a four-year deal worth $118 million, $91 million in guarantees and $62 million fully guaranteed.
Tannehill came over to them on a one-year deal last offseason after spending his entire career with the Miami Dolphins. He had a career year for the Titans, making it to the Pro Bowl and helping the team reach the AFC Championship game.
Tannehill went 7-3 as the Titans’ starter in 11 games, replacing an ineffective Marcus Mariota mid-season. The Titans went on a run late in the year, earning the last spot into the AFC playoff field. With bell-cow back Derrick Henry, Tennessee punished the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens all the way to the AFC title bout before losing to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The #Titans have agreed to terms with QB Ryan Tannehill on a 4-year deal worth $118M, source says. He gets $91M in total guarantees and $62M in fully guaranteed money. A huge payday after leading Tennessee to the playoffs.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 15, 2020
Rapoport reports it was Tennessee’s top priority to bring Tannehill back on a long-term deal. By doing this, it frees up the precious franchise tag, who the Titans will shamelessly slap on their Pro Bowl running back Henry. Having Tannehill around on a multi-year deal means the Titans will no longer be players in the Tom Brady free agency sweepstakes. They have their quarterback now.
At $118 million over four years, this will be viewed as quite the overpay for a quarterback with limited top-tier success in the league. Though he wasn’t bad during his time with the Dolphins, we never saw Tannehill become a galvanizing reason his team won or lost on fall Sundays. Apparently, the Titans organization saw enough and liked what they saw out of him in a limited sample size.
No, this hasn’t been the first time in recent years an AFC South team has paid a pretty penny to sign a 30-something quarterback to a long-term deal without a ton of regular-season success under his belt. The deal Nick Foles signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars is the biggest albatross of a contract in football. Jacksonville wants to trade Foles and start Gardner Minshew in 2020.
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While Tannehill is a better NFL quarterback than Foles, that is a lot of money the Titans organization has given him. Perhaps he is his generation’s version of Rich Gannon or Jim Plunkett, a quarterback who finds a great deal of success later in his career after underwhelming early? Overall, Tannehill got paid handsomely from a franchise that plays in a state with no income tax.