Tannehill praises O-line, skilled position players

DAVIE — Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill says he has become more confident in coach Adam Gase’s offense heading into the 2018 season.

Along with a better grasp of the scheme, Tannehill has his teammates on offense to thank for his increased comfort level.

Tannehill shared an exuberant amount of praise for Miami’s offensive line and skilled position players when meeting with media on Wednesday.

The Dolphins open the season against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium.

“I’m more confident in this offensive line than I’ve ever been,” Tannehill said of his starting line in left tackle Laremy Tunsil, left guard Josh Sitton, center Daniel Kilgore, right guard Jesse Davis and right tackle Ja’Wuan James.

“They do a great job and have done a great job over the course of camp of gelling together and coming together as a unit. … Once you start seeing that happen and they’re passing off twists in games up front, it gives you a lot of confidence as a passer to be able to stand in the pocket and make the throw.”

Tannehill hopes that confidence carries over in his first game since being sidelined by two knee injuries since the end of December 2016.

Tannehill is also high on his set of running backs, tight ends, and particularly his receivers. He loves how receivers Kenny Stills, Albert Wilson and Jakeem Grant are able to line up either on the outside or in the middle of the field.

“[I’m] excited with how they’ve worked, how they’ve progressed,” Tannehill said of the receivers.

“They come to work each and every day. They all bring something a little bit different to the table. We have a ton of fast guys, a ton of guys that can stretch the field, a lot of versatile guys. … We have guys that can move all over the place and we can create the matchups we want.”

Along with running back Kenyan Drake and rookie tight end Mike Gesicki, Tannehill believes the Dolphins offense has adequate weapons to attack opposing defenses this season.

“You have really five guys that can really go and create matchup problems for defenses, so you kind of have to pick your poison on defense on what you want to take away,” Tannehill said.