Tannehill’s aim: Gain strength, avoid soreness

DAVIE — Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill is throwing footballs again as he continues to recover from a right shoulder injury that has caused him to miss the past three games.

The issues for Tannehill now are whether he has enough power in his throws and if he is sore the day after throwing, Dolphins coach Adam Gase said on Monday.

Gase has not yet ruled Tannehill out the Dolphins’ next game, against the New York Jets (3-5) on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. But Gase hopes to have an idea of who his starting quarterback will be before the Dolphins (4-4) begin their practice week on Wednesday.

If Tannehill can’t play, Brock Osweiler will start his fourth consecutive game.

“He can throw a football. It’s just how much power he can put behind a ball,” Gase said of Tannehill’s progress. “Even that week, when he tried to throw, he’s throwing it, everything looks normal, but for him, he’s like, ‘I’m not getting that stroke that I want. I’m not able to get the velocity, that power.’

“That’s really what it’s going to come down to, when he does throw the next day how does he feel? And can he repeat what he did the day before? We’ve got to be careful here.”

Before missing three games this season, Tannehill was out due to knee injuries suffered in December 2016 and in August 2017.

Tannehill has now missed 23 games due to injury since Gase became Dolphins coach in 2016. Gase has a 20-20 record in that span.

With each game, Tannehill and the Dolphins are surrounded by outside noise suggesting it is time to move on from Tannehill and find a new starting quarterback to build around.

“Before I got here, it was ‘Hey, he had played however many games and never got hurt.’ The narrative swings so fast,” Gase said.

Gase said Tannehill’s ACL injuries and his shoulder injury suffered in Week 5 against the Cincinnati Bengals were sustained during quirky plays with him out of position.

Gase also believes Tannehill was making steady progress in his return as the Dolphins starter this season before he suffered the shoulder injury.

“I think mentally, he’s in a great spot. His body was in a decent spot everywhere else until that happened,” Gase said of Tannehill. “We were headed in a good direction. We just had a little bit of a setback.”

Tannehill practiced during Week 6 before his shoulder worsened, causing the Dolphins to rule him out for the game against the Chicago Bears. He was then ruled out the next two games, against the Detroit Lions and Houston Texans, during a stretch in which the Dolphins played three games in 11 days.

Although Gase says Tannehill is “gaining strength” in his shoulder, the Dolphins are dealing with a lot of gray area when evaluating him.

“It’s just kind of an unusual injury,” Gase said. “There’s a lot of gray. When we ask for information, we get a lot of gray back, so that makes it tough.”

The Dolphins are encouraging Tannehill to be honest about how his shoulder feels in hopes of continuing to make progress while avoiding a setback.

“I feel like [Tannehill is] in a good place” Gase said.