Is Ryan Tannehill going to be relevant in the new NFL schemes?

Very simple. Tannehill showed much more than the great majority of, or at the very least as much as miniscule percentage of the quarterbacks who have taken snaps for the Dolphins since 1983 NOT named Marino. This in his rookie year after a college career of 19 starts. He may not have played at the level of Luck, RGIII (who will probably slow down next year), or Kaepernick, but can you seriously believe that he is not the best hope we have had at QB since Dan the Man at this point in his career. Or would you rather we had:

Jay Fiedler
Damon Huard
Ray Lucas
Brian Griese
A.J. Feeley
Sage Rosenfells
Gus Frerotte
Joey Harrington
Daunte Culpepper
Cleo Lemon
Trent Green (Good, but fragile)
John Beck
Chad Pennington (Better but even more fragile!)
Chad Henne
Tyler Thigpenn
Matt Moore (Adequate - but not the future!)

Besides that - just WHAT alternative do we have right now????? Draft another QB this year after a one year audition?
That would probably satisfy the immediate gratification - RIGHT NOW - I'm gonna hold my breath until I turn blue tantrum throwers
BUT - it is probably not going to do anything about the long term problem since 1999!

 

Although I somewhat get what youre saying, you can't exactly compare a mobile QB who has some designed runs, and takes the opportunity to run at times, with a running back who runs....always.

 

I was arguing the point of not acquiring a player with specific athletic traits that could be used for This style of offense, for fear of the scheme getting him injured.

Maybe I misinterpreted bro.

 

It's an oft repeated fallacy that running QBs get injured more. Vick missed time the last few years due to hits he received while in the pocket. He gets injured b/c he has poor awareness. That was my same concern with RG3. He got hurt b/c he wasn't aware enough to get down. Guys like Kaepernick and Rodgers don't take many hits despite running b/c they know when to run and when to slide.

As for RT, he is a very good fit for a pistol formation and for zone reads. All the pistol is is a formation hybrid between a shotgun and being under center. When Ault invented it he just wanted the QB a little closer to the line so that decisions and plays would be quicker. The zone read wasn't even a part of it that first year. It was all about a quicker spread passing game that still gave you a middle run staple. That would fit very well with RT's background as they ran a very fast offense at TAMU. RT would also be able to run the zone read. It would take practice of course, but he easily has the speed to runaway from the DE.

 

And how will DCs adjust to beat the ZR? TIA

 

The injury risk is really overstated IMO. Of the guys to come out the past couple of years that are running these schemes - RG3, Newton, Kaepernick, and Wilson - RG3 is really the only one that has taken bad hits. And even on RG3s bad hits, those have come off scrambles when pass plays break down, not on designed runs.

 

They do things like standing up DEs, but that could probably only slow it down, not beat it. As long as you have a QB that is athletic enough and smart enough, its going to be a huge part of offenses going forward IMO.

Especially when you consider how defenses have adjusted to stop spread formations, it really seems inevitable that the next step in this progression is read-option/pistol stuff.

 

By standing up DEs do you mean teaching then to sit and make the QB hand off?

 

Not necessarily sit and make the QB hand the ball off, but standing up just to get better sight lines. It likely would lead to the QB handing off more though.

 

It's conventional wisdom to say Ault invented it, but why do some places say it was invented by Tom Kaczkowski in DivIII, named Northern Gun? Was that a different formation and tweaked by Ault?

 

He was the first one to use it. Ault really developed it into more of an offense though.

 

Well an article I read, dated 1999, said that Tom K used it extensively. That Northern Ohio runs a shotgun with a tailback. Perhaps Ault refined it, but it's a bit misleading to say he "invented" it. In my opinion of course.

 

I don't know about the Div III guy, but I was in Nevada when they put in the pistol. Ault talked about wanting move his QB closer to the line (they'd been using a lot of Shotgun formation previously). It's possible that he may have got the idea from somebody else, but he's never mentioned it in the media. IIRC correctly, they didn't have the greatest center and the longer shotgun snap was a bit of an adventure. He also felt that the ball took a long time to get back to the QB and he wanted a faster offense. At first it was a disaster b/c it took a while for the QB to learn to make the decisions fast enough. But it all came together against UNLV. And it was the D who couldn't make the decisions as fast as the O. By the next year they were one of the best offenses in all of college football (both run and pass). It was actually a very balanced offense. Once the zone read was added, it made the defense have to be sound at all levels. The dive play tests the middle of the D (DTs and LBs). The zone read tests the edges of the line and the CBs against the run. The play action off of both of those tests the LBs in coverage short and the Ss/ CBs deep. I like the offense b/c it's versatile enough to use against whatever part of the D is weak.

 

A good time to point out the quote Herm Edwards always uses, "you see a lot of young running qb's, but not a lot of old ones".

just something to think about

 

His numbers are dismal when you consider that he had a multi all pro line protecting him, a 1000 yrd back rusher and an all pro WR to throw to. His numbers do not reflect the amount of talent he had around him.

 

I watched the 49er's game last Sunday against Atlanta and I saw Kaepernick throw from the pocket throughout the game. Yes he can run, but he can also sit in the pocket and pick defenses apart. He has one of the strongest arms in the NFL and I think in a few years, he will be seen as the steal of the 2011 draft. Wilson should already be considered the steal of the 2012 draft. Personally I would trade Tannehill for either of these QB's without hesitation.

Unfortunately, neither the 49er's and the Seahawks would have any interest in this trade.