Ryan Tannehill looks like he could be this year’s Teddy Bridgewater. He went down with a non-contact knee injury today, and the Dolphins are waiting to see what the damage is.
Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald says the Dolphins are waiting for the results of an MRI. The best-case scenario is that Tannehill merely hyperextended his knee. But it’s possible he sprained his PCL, which could shelve him for 2-8 weeks. And it’s possible he re-injured his ACL, which potentially could lead to a season-ending surgery.
Prior to this incident, Tannehill was only the 20th quarterback on our board, so no real reason to draft him right now.
For fantasy purposes, the more interesting issue is how to handle Miami’s pass catchers if Tannehill is sidelined. The offense didn’t miss him much when he was hurt last year. Matt Moore threw 4, 2 and 2 touchdowns against the Jets, Bills and Patriots, and I was surprised how well he played at Pittsburgh. Despite getting clobbered on a helmet-to-helmet hit in the second quarter, he completed over 80 percent of his passes, finishing with 289 yards and a touchdown.
If Tannehill is out for an extended period, the Dolphins should add a capable quarterback. Jay Cutler would be one possibility; he played for Adam Gase in Chicago. Colin Kaepernick is out there, and he actually played his best game of the season at Miami last year, passing for 296 yards and 3 TDs while also running for 113 yards. But I don’t think Kaepernick fits Miami’s system as well as Cutler – doesn’t have the accuracy and decision-making ability. I’m not solid on Cutler either, frankly, making me think they’d just go with Moore.
My sense is there isn’t a sneaky fantasy value here waiting to be uncovered. Gase picked up the passing guru label when Peyton Manning was shredding defenses with Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders. But since leaving Denver, he’s overseen conservative, plodding offenses. In Chicago in 2015, his running backs had the most rushing attempts in the league. And last year in Miami, the Dolphins got good (going 9-1 down the stretch) when they took the ball out of Tannehill’s hands and started running Jay Ajayi.
In the last two years, Gase’s offenses have averaged 236 passing yards per game. Only seven offenses in that span have averaged fewer passing yards, and it’s a pretty meager bunch, including Rams, 49ers, Vikings, Texans and Kansas City, along with the run-dominated Cowboys and Bills.
It’s fun to kick around in August the possibility that Julius Thomas will bounce back or DeVante Parker will break out. But once the real games start in September, neither is particularly likely.
| PASSING YARDS SINCE 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Run | TDR | Pass | TDP |
| New Orleans Saints | 3,233 | 33 | 10,463 | 70 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 3,534 | 33 | 9,562 | 59 |
| New England Patriots | 3,276 | 33 | 9,268 | 68 |
| Washington Redskins | 3,262 | 26 | 9,242 | 55 |
| San Diego Chargers | 2,868 | 14 | 9,241 | 63 |
| Arizona Cardinals | 3,649 | 36 | 9,200 | 63 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 3,484 | 29 | 9,199 | 59 |
| Baltimore Ravens | 2,941 | 18 | 8,792 | 41 |
| Detroit Lions | 2,645 | 16 | 8,790 | 57 |
| New York Giants | 3,021 | 11 | 8,527 | 62 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 3,859 | 23 | 8,483 | 57 |
| Indianapolis Colts | 3,066 | 19 | 8,419 | 58 |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 3,104 | 13 | 8,353 | 59 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 3,574 | 35 | 8,310 | 49 |
| Green Bay Packers | 3,551 | 19 | 8,270 | 71 |
| Oakland Raiders | 3,379 | 24 | 8,266 | 63 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 3,778 | 20 | 8,207 | 51 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 3,556 | 31 | 8,139 | 39 |
| Denver Broncos | 3,202 | 24 | 8,130 | 39 |
| Chicago Bears | 3,589 | 23 | 7,982 | 40 |
| Miami Dolphins | 3,320 | 25 | 7,947 | 51 |
| Cleveland Browns | 3,241 | 18 | 7,849 | 35 |
| Carolina Panthers | 4,096 | 35 | 7,835 | 56 |
| New York Jets | 3,670 | 21 | 7,815 | 49 |
| Tennessee Titans | 3,672 | 26 | 7,613 | 54 |
| Adam Gase | 3,678 | 27 | 7,559 | 48 |
| Houston Texans | 3,590 | 15 | 7,497 | 44 |
| Dallas Cowboys | 4,286 | 32 | 7,476 | 41 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 3,792 | 34 | 7,407 | 39 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 3,416 | 27 | 7,365 | 34 |
| Buffalo Bills | 5,062 | 48 | 6,850 | 40 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 3,563 | 22 | 6,812 | 37 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 3,208 | 25 | 6,244 | 25 |
—Ian Allan