Tannehill eager for Father’s Day
DAVIE — The moment brings a smile to Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s face every time.
When he takes a walk with his 10-month-old son, Steel, it gets more interesting when they spot a dog. The beauty of when a child starts to speak.
“Now, he’s like the dog alert,” Tannehill said. “He knows dog. He can say dog. We’ll be on a walk, and if he sees a dog, he’s like, ‘Dog, Dog!’ It’s pretty cute. Obviously, I’m biased. He’s a cute kid.”
Today, Tannehill will experience another high in their relationship. It is his first Father’s Day, a moment he can’t wait for.
“I’m excited,” Tannehill said. “I got to celebrate Mother’s Day with my wife for the first time earlier this year. My first Father’s Day, it’s a cool feeling for sure.”
Tannehill was speaking Saturday in between sessions of the Hyundai NFL Youth Camp he hosted at the Dolphins practice facility. About 500 children between the ages of 7-13 attended, with campers given the opportunity to run drills and ask questions to Tannehill.
“It’s always a great time,” Tannehill said. “You get everyone from the little guys, they’re 4 or 5 years old, running around crazy. You’re trying to teach them to throw. It’s always a lot of fun. Those kids are all so pure. They’re just full of joy and smiles. I think that’s what makes this so much fun for me.”
After working with others, the highlight of the weekend will be spending quality time with his child. He said fatherhood has changed his outlook on life. It helps put everything else in proper perspective.
“It’s a love that you don’t know exists until you have a child,” Tannehill said. “It’s amazing how fast the baby comes out and immediately this wave of love just washes over you. It definitely makes you take a step back and see what’s really important in the world and what’s periphery and what matters. … It’s been a great experience for me.”
The biggest adjustment to fatherhood is time management. There was a time when Tannehill and his wife, Lauren, only had to account for themselves. They could live spontaneously, make plans on the go. All that changed when Steel arrived.
“I think the most difficult part is not having the same freedom that I had before,” Tannehill said. “My wife and I could go to dinner whenever we wanted to, go on a quick weekend trip whenever we wanted, take a week-long trip whenever we wanted to. I could do a lot more things when I didn’t have a child at home. Now, it’s like, ‘OK, we want to go to dinner on Thursday and it’s Monday. We need to organize a babysitter.’ Everything has to be so more planned out.”
Still, Tannehill wouldn’t trade it for anything. He is reminded of that every time he returns home after a long day of practice and film sessions.
“With it, you get such a blessing, being able to spend that quality time with him,” Tannehill said. “You’ve been at work all day and you walk in the door and he sees you and he lights up with a smile. That feeling I get when I see him smile when he first sees you, it’s pretty special.”