USA TODAY International Edition
Tannehill showing no ill effects
DAVIE, FLA. The only noticeable sign Ryan Tannehill’s 2016 ended with a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament is the brace the Miami Dolphins quarterback has chosen to wear on his left knee.
Even that piece of equipment is strictly precautionary.
Four days into training camp, Tannehill has shown no limitations and no hesitations in running the entire Dolphins playbook, which includes calls for him to tuck the ball under his arm and run.
“I feel totally normal, totally healthy, moving around, running, stopping, cutting. Everything feels really good,” Tannehill told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday.
Tannehill was diagnosed with the partial tear in his ACL and medial collateral ligament after taking a hit Dec. 11. He missed the final three regular- season games as well as a wild- card loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers but did not require surgery.
Tannehill was cleared for participation in offseason workouts, which gave him and coach Adam Gase confidence that he’d be able to focus on his growth in the offense. Tannehill threw 19 touch- down passes and 12 interceptions with career highs in completion percentage ( 67.1%) and passer rating ( 93.5) before his injury.
Part of that process is getting more comfortable with owning the offense at the line of scrimmage. Gase gives Tannehill plenty of latitude to check out of plays, and he wants his quarterback to make decisions with confidence.
“From Day 1, what I’ve told all of ( my quarterbacks), if you see something, go with it. If you’re wrong, you’re wrong,” Gase told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s the same thing I did in Denver ( with Peyton Manning), the same thing I did in Chicago ( with Jay Cutler). I said the same thing I did when I went to Chicago. Peyton is who he is. You’ve got to find out: Who are you in this offense?
“Jay wasn’t going to check to stuff unless he felt really good. Ryan, sometimes he’ll go to things that we talked about, and sometimes he’s like, ‘ Hey, let’s go run it.’ ”
Tight end Julius Thomas played for Gase with the Denver Broncos and was part of a recordsetting offense Gase orchestrated in 2013. Reunited with Gase after a two- year stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Thomas has a unique perspective on how much Tannehill is being asked to do.
“I mean there is no getting around it, this is a quarterback’s offense, a lot of responsibility on him. I have so much respect for Ryan and all the things he has to know and all of the things that are asked of him,” Thomas told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s not easy, not at all.”
But to Tannehill, the demands are at least starting to feel easier, and this summer he’s able to spend more time on the small details of Gase’s playbook.
“Now, I can anticipate things a little more, and as a whole it’s understanding things throughout the play where we can help ourselves gain a step here,” Tannehill said. “Taking each play to the next level, ( as) opposed to just throwing a play like it’s written on paper. When you’re able to adjust small details throughout the play and you understand the overall concept of what you’re trying to do, you create a lot more opportunities.”