Why Ryan Tannehill deserves NFL Comeback Player of the Year
By Brady Akins
Despite not starting until Week 7, Ryan Tannehill has been playing like one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks and deserves Comeback Player of the Year recognition.
Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill is playing the best football of his career and, to many people’s surprise, looks like one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
After coming out of the gate slow and limping to a 2-4 start, the Titans were mostly an afterthought in the NFL landscape. Needing a change, the Titans gave the keys to the offense over to the former first-round pick in Tannehill. Since that change at quarterback, Tennessee looks like a completely different team.
Tannehill’s 2019 campaign has been a revolution for the Titans and their previously struggling offense. Since he arrived on the scene as the Titans starter, Tannehill and the Tennessee offense has been one of the hottest groups in football. Now, sitting at 8-5 with just three games left to go, the Titans are in the race for a playoff spot.
He won’t have the overall yards, touchdowns, or a full 16-game schedule on his 2019 resume like some of the NFL’s top quarterbacks, but Tannehill has been playing at a level higher than most of the players at his position.
Most Valuable Player is out of the question, and at this point, a Pro Bowl birth doesn’t seem likely for Tannehill either. But with how well he’s playing, and where he was at to start the season, Tannehill will be well deserving of national accolades by the end of the year.
The success of the Titans’ offense, along with his per-game stats and the journey he took to get the starting job in Tennessee should have Ryan Tannehill as a front-runner for NFL Comeback Player of the Year.