Ryan Tannehill Suffers Apparent Knee Injury

With the NFL preseason coming up, there has been a lot of injuries that happened during training camp so far, but none of them is bigger than the injury Miami Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill Suffered. On Thursday, Tannehill suffered a knee injury during practice he could not walk on his own power, he had to be helped up for an MRI. According to NFL Network Tannehill has no structural damage in his left knee

Last season, in 13 starts, Tannehill threw for 2,995 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, 5 interceptions with a passer rating of 93.5. Before suffering a season ending knee injury, Tannehill was a huge reason for the success of the Dolphins last season even though his numbers went down, he made some big plays and led the Dolphins to a couple of big wins helping them reach the playoffs.

While Tannehill was out, backup quarterback Matt Moore threw for 721 yards, 8 touchdowns, 3 interceptions with a passer rating of 105.6. In his absence, Moore went 3-2 leading the team to wins against the Arizona Cardinals, the New York Jets, the Buffalo Bills. When Tannehill went out with his injury, Moore tried his best to keep the momentum going heading into the playoffs even though the team lost week 17 against New England. In the playoffs, Moore and company were no match for the Pittsburgh Steelers losing to them in the wild card game 30-12 ending the season.

Heading into the 2017 NFL season, the Dolphins have the sixth hardest schedule based on the opponents record in 2016. Outside of divisional matchups against New England, New York, and Buffalo. The team also has to play teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Tennessee Titans, the Oakland Raiders, the Denver Broncos the Kansas City Chiefs and the Atlanta Falcons. Looking on paper, this is a very tough schedule, having to play four playoff teams from last season and three teams that just missed the playoffs last season who are looking to rebound. With a schedule like this, the team is going to need Tannahill at quarterback if they want to at least make a playoff run this season

Looking on paper, this is a very tough schedule, having to play four playoff teams from last season and three teams that just missed the playoffs last season who are looking to rebound. With a schedule like this, the team is going to need Tannehill at quarterback if they want to at least make a playoff run this season. Even though Jay Ajayi broke out last season, he can not do everything on his own, he needs a productive quarterback to get pressure off of him that is where Tannehill comes in.

If the team is not set with Moore at quarterback, there are quarterbacks on the free agent market right now that are looking for a job, quarterbacks like Colin Kaepernick, Robert Griffin The 3rd. If the team really wants to go all in, there is always Tony Romo and Jay Cutler but it is doubtful that those two would leave the broadcast booth right now. The best option for the team right now is just to roll with Moore throughout the entire season.

On the Miami side of things, this is the last thing the team wants to deal with right now. Without Tannehill, the team is losing a leader on offense, he had made so much progress in Adam Gase offense which showed last season despite his numbers going down. Yes, Matt Moore will be serviceable at quarterback but he is not the type of guy that can lead a team to a playoff run. The hopes of the team having 10 plus wins this season, most likely will not happen with this injury.

On the Tannehill side of things, this is really heartbreaking if this injury is as bad as everyone thinks it is. Just last season, he suffered a season ending knee injury, putting him on Injured Reserve and now he suffers the same injury on the same knee that injured last season. With him out for a large amount of time, he will have to rehab his injury completely to make sure he comes back 100% fully healthy and be the quarterback that Miami fans are hoping he becomes and leads them to the playoffs once again.

Photo Credit Eric Espada/Getty Images

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