Draft chatter increases this week as the Scouting Combine takes place Thursday through Sunday in Indianapolis.
One interesting guy for Browns fans to follow is Ryan Tannehill of Texas A&M. He plays quarterback, and if the Browns cannot get Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III there is some thinking that they might be interested in Tannehill.
There are enough connections to the Browns front office types – specifically the agent of Berea, Bob LaMonte – that Tannehill should not be dismissed even if the connection is a bit convoluted.
Tannehill’s coach at Texas A&M was Mike Sherman. Sherman worked with Mike Holmgren in Green Bay, and like coach coach Pat Shurmur, offensive coordinator Brad Childress, GM Tom Heckert and Holmgren, Sherman is represented by LaMonte.
No team is going to choose a player because of his past coach’s agent, but guys represented by the same guy often keep in touch and talk, so it’s not inconceivable that Sherman has talked about Tannehill with Holmgren, assuming they talk.
The twist is that Miami, where Sherman was recently hired as offensive coordinator, also might be interested in Tannehill. Because they need a quarterback as well.
What’s that they say about tangled webs?
At any rate, Tannehill played receiver for two years for Sherman before he moved to quarterback. When hired at Miami, Sherman talked up Tannehill quite well, saying: “Like all good quarterbacks he had great poise. Very confident in any system, West Coast or not. Any quarterback has to be confident in his own skin and believe in himself. They always say a great quarterback makes those around him better. I thought [Brett] Favre did that. I think Aaron Rodgers does that. I think Tannehill does that as well.”
Throwing out Rogers’ and Farve’s name in the same sentence is not a comparison, but does get attention.
Especially when Sherman was fired by Texas A&M despite having this great quarterback.
Pete Fiutak of FOX (and College Football news) recently ranked the draft-eligible quarterbacks, and he had Luck and Griffin first and second.
Third? Brandon Weeden of Oklahoma State – even though Weeden is 28 and might be 30 by the time he starts a game.
Tannehill ranks ninth. Which would be after eighth.
Fiutak’s rankings go this way:
- Luck
- Griffin
- Weeden
- Arizona’s Nick Foles
- Michigan State’s Kirk Cousins
- San Diego State’s Ryan Lindley
- Arizona State’s Brock Osweiler
- Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson
- Tannehill.
Fiutak has him ninth even though he projects him to the second round.
Among Fiutak’s comments on Tannehill, after the positives about having great size and being a great leader, were these: “Not good enough at playing football. The scouts want him to be good because he looks the part and has most of the tools. … Throws way too many interceptions and isn’t nearly accurate enough. He might never be consistent enough to be a winning NFL starting quarterback. He can be a starter, but he won’t win a Super Bowl. … While he bombed away and put up big stats, he was almost never clutch.”
There will be two more months of this kind of stuff, folks.
