Ryan Tannehill’s career revival came at exactly the right time to lift the Tennessee Titans from becoming a virtual lock to pick within the top half of the 2020 NFL Draft to a team on the cusp of reaching the Super Bowl.
Tannehill’s reward? A big stinkin’ contract to stay in Nashville.
The latest from ESPN’s Jeff Darlington:
Ryan Tannehill has agreed to terms on a new four-year contract with the Titans, per source. Here’s the numbers:
$118m total
$29.5m average per year
$62m full guarantee
$91m total guaranteeBIG deal for Tannehill!
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) March 15, 2020
And if you’re curious what the market value for competent quarterbacking looks like, there you have it.
That is a *BIG* deal for Tannehill, whose career was stuck in the mud before landing in the perfect situation in Tennessee. Remember, the Dolphins traded Tannehill and a 2019 sixth-round pick to the Titans for a 2019 seventh-round pick and 2020 fourth-round selection. All Tannehill did for Tennessee was earn a Pro Bowl trip, lead the team to a 7-3 record in games he started, complete 70 percent of his passes, throw 22 touchdowns against just 6 interceptions, and post a league-best 117.5 passer rating.
Now, that is what you call a good return on investment.
Tannehill was so good last year, that teams this offseason are rumored to want to re-create the deal Miami and Tennessee executed on March 18, 2019 in order to find their own fallen quarterback prospect reclamation project. The Bears, while never in the market for Tannehill’s services this offseason, are expected to be one of the teams that has its eyes on landing a veteran quarterback to bolster the position group to push (or even supplant) incumbent Mitch Trubisky.
Should Tannehill put up those types of numbers with consistency over the course of this contract, then the $29.5M AAV, $62 million in full guarantees, and $91 million in total guarantees won’t figure to be a sticking point for anyone in Titans camp. But still … dang. That’s a big contract.