For Titans QB Ryan Tannehill, It's All About the Present, Not 'Riding That Roller Coaster'

Ryan Tannehill might be nearing the end of his run as quarterback of the Tennessee Titans, but for now he's still the starter and he goes to work every day not thinking any different. He's living in the present, and is preparing to ''go win games'' for the Titans this fall.

Tom Brew | May 3, 2023

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Tennessee Titans

NASHVILLE —There's been a lot of talk about the future of the Tennessee Titans lately, which isn't all that uncommon during NFL draft season. A team in transition even drafted what they hope is their quarterback of the future, former Kentucky star Will Levis.

For the incumbent quarterback, 34-year-old Ryan Tannehill, all that talk doesn't mean a darn thing to him. He's living in the now, a full participant in the Titans' offseason program who feels healthy and is prepared to win games this year as a starter.

All that talk is just that — nothing but talk. He could care less about any offseason rumors. He's been through it before, and fretting about it solves nothing.

''Yeah, I tried to stay out of it, honestly,'' Tannehill said. "I didn't see a lot of it. I'd get a text from a friend or something, but I just tried to stay out of it as much as it much you can. I think riding that rollercoaster is a tough one to ride, so I just kept my head down, kept doing the things I could do each and every day and if something was going to happen, I'm sure they'd let me know. So I didn't really ride that rollercoaster.

"You grow from every experience that you're put through in life. Some are harder than others, but you're able to use those things, grow from it and I feel really good right now. Obviously some things are challenging, but you're able to try to address it for what it is, take it for what it is and keep moving forward.''

Tannehill has been the Titans' quarterback for four seasons now after seven years in Miami. He missed a lot of last season with an ankle injury that eventually required surgery, and it had a direct correlation to the Titans losing their final seven games and finishing 7-10, their first losing season since 2015.

Bouncing back — both physically and as a team — is the biggest reason why he's been at all the offseason workouts, bonding with his teammates and being a leader.

Which is what he is.

"Yeah, just coming off the injury at the end of last year, having surgery, I wanted to do everything I could to get back and be ready to go by this time of the year,'' he said. "I felt like being here in the building with trainers and therapists that I trusted was important, and I felt like they could do a good job of rehabbing me and getting me ready to go. I feel really good. Obviously it's been a long time getting to this point, but I was able to step into this offseason feeling really good.''

"Yeah, it was obviously tough, just finishing the way we did the way I wasn't being able to be out there. It sucks, but I'm at that point where my focus was on doing everything physically that I could do to get ready, putting the time and the work in to get the ankle feeling good, being able to move around again to get ready for the next year.''

The Titans are near the bottom of the loaded AFC in most power rankings and they could choose to move on from Tannehill has his expensive contract at any time. He's had conversations with new general manager Ran Carthon when he was hired this spring and he was in the loop last week, when Carthon and coach Mike Vrabel talked to him about picking Levis in the second round.

"My job is to get ready to go win football games and that's what I'm going to do each and every day. You can only control what you control, right?'' Tannehill said. "Mike and Ran make those decisions, and as players you've got to control what you can control and that's doing the best you can, prepping yourself mentally and physically each and every day to go win football games.''

Vrabel said Friday after drafting Levis that Tannehill is still the starting quarterback, with second-year QB Malik Willis and Levis as the backups. Tannehill said he ''appreciated it being clarified.''

"A the end of the day I have an opportunity in front of me to go out and play football and that's what I'm here to do,'' he said. "Nothing is given to you in this league and I've seen that over my now 12 years here in the NFL. Things can change quickly. So just as a player, you understand, like I said earlier, that you have a process that you go about and try to grow as a player every day. You have to make plays when it comes down to it.''

Tannehill said he hasn't talked to Levis and he's looking forward to meeting him next week during rookie minicamp.

"Hopefully, he adds to the room. Obviously he's a talented guy coming off a great college career, so we'll see when I get to meet him here in a few weeks or next week. I don't even know exactly when.

"Yeah, we've been down this road before — (Willis was drafted in the third round a year ago) —so it's definitely a little bit of deja vu. Like I said, Mike and Ran make those decisions. My job is to go out and try to win football games. When you're a competitor, obviously when the team drafts somebody, it makes you want to dig in even more and say, 'Hey, I'm the guy.'

"My process doesn't really change. I like to believe that I'm giving my all every time I go out there and prep on whether it's in an OTAs or Week 15, getting ready to go win a game, you know how to go about things. You take your job seriously each and every day knowing that nothing's given to you and got to go out there and earn everything so that process doesn't change.''

Tannehill was run off in Miami late in his run there, and went to Tennessee as a backup originally before supplanting Marcus Mariota. He's learned about the ups and the downs, and is a better man — and a better quarterback — for it.

"You definitely grow from life experiences, whether it's something that happened when you were a kid or early on in your professional career,'' said Tannehill, who's thrown for 33,265 yards 212 touchdowns in his career.. "Everything in life is a learning experience, so you're learning from your own life experiences, you're learning from what you're seeing happen too in other places throughout the league or in other areas of your life and just trying to take in all that information and grow from it.''

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