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It may come as a surprise to some that Ryan Tannehill was the eighth highest scoring fantasy football quarterback last season. His 4,000+ passing yards, 27 touchdowns and 12 interception placed him ahead of in-division foe and future Hall of Famer Tom Brady in 2014. Yet despite his impressive performance last season he can be seen as low as 22nd on quarterback draft boards behind the likes of Joe Flacco, Carson Palmer and Robert Griffin III.
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The lack of love for Tannehill as a fantasy football quarterback is puzzling for a multitude of reasons. In his three seasons in the NFL, Tannehill has never missed a game and has consistently improved from year to year. His completion percentage has improved from 58.3% in his rookie season to 66.4% in 2014. 66.4% was good enough for the fifth highest completion percentage in the league last season.
Additionally his passer rating has grown at a solid rate each year, starting out at 76.1 in 2012 to a 92.8 last season. His 27 touchdowns he threw last season are no fluke either, as he threw for 24 the year before to Brian Hartline, Davone Bess and Armon Binns, all of who are either out of the league or barely holding on to a roster spot despite all three players being at or under the age of 29.
While there are a lot of aspects to Tannehill’s game to like, such as his stats he’s put up despite very underwhelming receivers, his yards per completion is horrendous. In 2014 he ranked 31st out of 34 qualifying quarterbacks in yards per completion. Also he ranked 28th in yards per attempt out of 33 qualifying quarterbacks despite his elite accuracy numbers.
However, Tannehill figures to improve on those stats as his supporting cast has drastically improved from years past.
Miami has a decent offensive line headlined by two studs in Brandon Albert and Mike Pouncey. While 2014 first-rounder Ja’Wuan James had a down rookie campaign (finishing 80th out of 84 tackles on PFF), he should be able to improve in 2015, same for second-year guard Billy Turner. The offensive line is beginning to have to most important thing that lineman can have; continuity. While the offensive line isn’t the greatest, it's not bad enough to be a liability.
The Dolphins receiving corps saw a significant turnaround in the amount of talented players it has brought in the past two seasons. Miami spent a second-round pick last season on former LSU standout Jarvis Landry, who had a solid rookie season tallying 758 yards and five touchdowns. Then, in 2015, the team signed breakout tight end Jordan Cameron, veteran wide receiver Greg Jennings and traded for promising and already producing wide receiver Kenny Stills. Miami also used the fourteenth overall pick in the 2015 draft to take the talented Louisville-product DeVante Parker.
With a receiving corps that features Parker, Jennings, Stills, Landry and Cameron, the Dolphins have one of the best groups of receivers in the entire league.
Also helping Tannehill improve even further in 2015 is the Dolphins running backs. Miami group of running backs isn’t going to blow anyone away, starter Lamar Miller did run for just short of 1,100 yards, adding eight touchdowns and averaging 5.1 yards per carry. A running back like Miller can help open up the field for Tannehill, which will hopefully improve his terrible yards per completion numbers.
Ultimately, Tannehill has consistently improved in each of his three season and there is no reason to think he won’t be a better quarterback in 2015 with a vastly improved receiving corps, a better offensive line and a serviceable run game. From a quarterback standpoint, Tannehill is as underrated as underrated gets and presents incredible value as a sleeper in the draft. It wouldn’t be at all surprising if Tannehill snuck his way into the top-five highest scoring quarterbacks in 2015.
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