The Dolphins lie at a strange crossroads at the eighth pick. They have a promising QB prospect there, but he is not without flaws. He has the arm to be successful, but is inexperienced. There is cross pressure in this decision as well, which I will get back to at the end of the post. The choice to draft him is not as clear as it may seem and vice versa.
The Choice on Tannehill
Tannehill has the arm, the mentality and the drive to be a successful pick. He can make any throw, if he has time. Tannehill's athleticism is another weapon at his disposal that he can use to make big plays. Tannehill's strengths are his strong arm and gunslinger mentality. He has the arm strength to fit the ball anywhere on the field and will not hesitate to do it.
Tannehill shows his weaknesses when he is blitzed. He rarely recognizes the blitz when the defenders tip their hand and rarely audibles out of a long developing play, like a deep out. Tannehill also struggles with accuracy when he knows he is about to be hit. Watching tape on this QB, I have seen his worst throws come from him throwing under pressure, even when the receiver is wide open, college style. I don't know if it is his throwing motion or his footwork, but something goes wrong when he is throwing a ball with a defender bearing down in front of him. His accuracy becomes erratic. Tannehill does have some positives against the blitz, which comes from his natural athleticism. He can evade the blitz, get outside the tackle box and throw it away or can turn it up field for a nice gain.
Tannehill also struggles when throwing deep, as he can't fit balls where only his guy can catch them. This isn't a big concern as deep throws only account for 5-10% of all the throws he will be asked to make, but it helps the O out if your QB can capitalize on deep throws when your WR has a step. This might sound bad, but remember Brady sucks on his deep throw accuracy, completing much less than Chad Henne and Matt Moore when you compared both side by side.
All in all, Tannehill looks like a good prospect, even at the eigth pick. Experience can fix his inadequacies against the blitz and his deficiencies throwing deep can be overlooked. There is one thing that makes him a bad choice for the Miami Dolphins; he will take years to develop into something special. I think he will most likely come out of the draft like Eli Manning, a playmaker that throws way too many INTs. He will also need a great D and consistently good to great running atttack to be successful early in his career. Eli took 5 years to become a franchise guy and 6 years to become eilte. Anyone that has seen how the Miami fanbase treats young players that are developing (Ted Ginn Jr., Chad Henne, Brian Hartline, Sean Smith, and Daniel Thomas) knows that Miami fans will not accept 4 years of QB ratings of 76 from a young QB without screaming for his head. Let alone his fifth year only being an 86 QBR. This makes Tannehill a bad choice for the Dolphins, as their fanbase is not as patient and loyal as the Giant's fanbase.
A catch 22 implies that the desired result is unattainable do to illogical rules or conditions. The Miami Dolphins need to draft a QB for the future, but the one that we can get will take awhile to develop. The fanbase will be upset if we don't take one soon,but the fanbase will also have turned on him long before he has had a chance to develop and that is what makes it a catch 22. The FO is not really in a position to draft the QB of the future because they will have lost their jobs, due to him being a developmental guy, before he has a chance to become the franchise guy.