Tennessee Titans grade for Ryan Tannehill trade

How did the Tennessee Titans do on the Ryan Tannehill trade?

Out of nowhere, the Tennessee Titans traded with the Miami Dolphins for QB Ryan Tannehill.

Now, it wasn’t a secret that the Dolphins were set to move on from Tannehill at some point this offseason but no one knew when it was going to happen and under what circumstances.

A trade seemed inevitable, but I don’t think many people thought the Tennessee Titans would be the ones that moved for him. It seemed like a team that needed a long term starter would be the team to go after him, like the New York Giants or Denver Broncos.

However, the Titans ended up with him after having seemingly no interest in upgrading the backup quarterback position this offseason.

It all happened quickly, but here is what the deal cost each side:

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Tennessee Titans receive: QB Ryan Tannehill and pick 188 (6th round)

Miami Dolphins receive: Pick 233 (7th) and 2020 4th round pick

When you do the math using the old trade value chart that means that the Titans essentially traded the value of a 5th round pick for Tannehill, which is virtually nothing.

Alright, the big concern was that the Titans were going to have to eat a HUGE cap hit with Tannehill set to make $51 million over the next two years. So, unless the Titans were getting a 1st round pick back, I think we all knew a restructure was coming.

Well, it came in the form of a 1 year, $7 million guaranteed deal. That isn’t exactly cheap, but it makes sense. You get a quality backup QB who can actually go out and win games for an extended stretch so you don’t have to rush Marcus Mariota back from injury like they have the last two years.

That seemed like a pretty fair trade until this news came out:

One other interesting detail on today’s trade: Dolphins paid $5M of Ryan Tannehill’s $7M fully guaranteed money in the form of a signing bonus, per source. Softened blow for Tennessee.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 15, 2019

Whew, kind of a bombshell to just drop casually. This means that the Titans will give Tannehill $2 million guaranteed to be their backup this year and then they will be off the hook? That is a great deal for the Titans considering there was no other way to get a cheap QB, much less one of this caliber.

The next move will be to cut Blaine Gabbert which will save $1.5 million this year, meaning the Tennessee Titans are really only losing $500,000 to make the change from Blaine Gabbert to Ryan Tannehill.

I think we can all agree that is a big upgrade to make for that cheap.

Here is the hidden value of this deal. What if Ryan Tannehill is a perfect fit for this system? It seems to be inclined towards athletic QBs and zone running based off of the moves the Titans have made and the comments made.

So, we all hope Marcus Mariota stays healthy and has a great year, but what if there are a few games where he ends up banged up and Tannehill plays three games? If he comes in and looks good in those games and wins, then all of the sudden he looks like someone a team may want to take a chance on.

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These are the teams whose starting QB is going to be a free agent next year (or retire):

-Seattle Seahawks (re-sign)

-Pittsburgh Steelers (who knows)

-New York Giants (retire)

-LA Chargers (80/20 re-sign or retire)

-Tampa Bay Buccaneers (let Winston go)

-Dallas Cowboys (probably re-sign)

So conservatively, that is two teams that will need a new QB and all of them will probably push themselves out of the top-5. If a team misses out on Tua next year, how many QBs are going to be more appealing in a draft that will be littered with playmakers at the skill positions?

You can’t tell me that if Tannehill rebounds strong and looks good as a spot starter, that some team isn’t going to sign him to a solid deal.

If that happens, there is a chance that the Titans could get a compensatory pick from the whole deal. So the Titans could actually end up improving their QB depth, moving up in the draft this year and then getting a compensatory 5th in 2021 and the deal would pay for itself.

I think this is a great move and everything from short term help, to the compensation this year and next year, to the potential long term gain make this move easy to grade.

Grade: A

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