When you are a young quarterback who is still trying to prove himself in the NFL, what is better than having a Hall of Fame quarterback like Dan Marino working in your facilities, providing you with a mentor you can talk to about the game? How about having a soon-to-be Hall of Fame quarterback coming to Miami with the sole intent to meet with you and work on the nuances of your new head coach's offensive system? That is exactly what happened this offseason as the recently-retired Peyton Manning sat down with Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill to discuss the offensive system utilized by new Miami coach Adam Gase.
Manning worked in Gase's offense for two years with the Broncos, from 2013 to 2014, as well as spending a year with Gase as his quarterbacks coach in 2012. Gase also worked as the Broncos' quarterbacks coach in 2011 with Tim Tebow as his starting quarterback. Gase was the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears in 2015.
Reported by the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson, the meeting between Manning and Tannehill was Manning's idea, and was designed to meet with Gase and to "share some knowledge" with Tannehill. Under NFL rules, coaches are not allowed to meet with players during the offseason, which means Tannehill was not able to meet with Gase and discuss the new offensive system and the playbook being installed until the offseason training program opened April
Tannehill discussed the limitation and Manning's ability to bridge the gap, with Jackson. "At that time, we weren't able to meet with the coaches or anything, so I didn't really have a great handle yet," Tannehill said. "So I wasn't really able to dive into the playbook too much. So I had a few questions [for Manning]. If he comes back now, we can have a completely different conversation."
The conversation may be more in-depth if the two were to meet today, but that does not mean Tannehill did not get a lot of information out of Manning. Tannehill described the meeting as "really cool" and that they discussed "little details about the game" along with other topics.
This should just add more to both Tannehill's readiness for the season, and the expectations of Tannehill this season. Tannehill explained that Manning "respects Adam. The things they did, getting to a Super Bowl together, there is a mutual respect there. He is something I aspire to be."
The question is, did Manning share the secret of Omaha?