Mike Vrabel on Ryan Tannehill Playing Preseason Finale: 'That's a Possibility'

The Tennessee Titans take part in their preseason finale on Friday against the New England Patriots and head coach Mike Vrabel didn't close the door on starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill taking some snaps.

The Tennessee Titans have officially completed training camp as of Tuesday and their last preseason game awaits. Friday night the Titans will take on the New England Patriots and we could see starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill on the field.

Head coach Mike Vrabel spoke to reporters after Tuesday's practice and did not rule out the chance that Tannehill could see some snaps. Tannehill has typically not seen very many preseason snaps, if any, during his time as the Titans' starter. 

"Gotta work through some of that and we'll see what it looks like here with Ryan (Tannehill)," Vrabel said. "Get him behind the offensive line. I haven't made a final determination, but that's a possibility."

As Vrabel points out, Tannehill has yet to see live snaps behind this offensive line. It goes beyond just getting comfortable with playing the game, but getting used to Tannehill's cadence, how quick he gets to the snap and how he calls audibles, will all matter as well.

This isn't like previous years where the Titans had Ben Jones and Taylor Lewan and Nate Davis in place for multiple seasons. This is a brand new group outside of Aaron Brewer and even he is changing position from guard to center. It may be important enough for Tannehill to get live snaps with this new five that Vrabel breaks the trend and gets Tannehill action on Friday.

As for the other quarterbacks, Malik Willis remains healthy and ready. Expect to see him quite a bit on Friday night. The only scenario that exists that would prevent Willis from playing is if the Titans' coaches want to make up for lost time and let Will Levis play the entire game.

#Titans HC Mike Vrabel: Not sure of plan for QB Will Levis for Friday night.

— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) August 23, 2023

Levis left joint practices with the Minnesota Vikings early last Thursday. He did not participate in the preseason game against the Vikings last Saturday either, giving Willis the entire game to prove himself as the two fight for the backup job in 2023.

Levis was back at practice on Wednesday though and should be in line to play against the Patriots. Again, if the Titans want to give Levis the opportunity they gave Willis, we may not see much of Willis. However, that does seem doubtful.

The likely route is we don't see Tannehill and get a ton of both Willis and Levis. The fact that Vrabel left the possibility out there of seeing Tannehill though does make you raise an eyebrow. We will all be patiently watching for who runs out there first this Friday night.

Titans Related Stories

• TITANS ROSTER PROJECTION: The Tennessee Titans sit one preseason game away from roster cutdown time. Here is a projection of what the roster could look like after it is trimmed. CLICK HERE
• CALEB MURPHY'S RISE: The Tennessee Titans got significant contributions from rookie pass rusher Caleb Murphy in their 24-16 win over the Vikings and Mike Vrabel talked about Murphy's performance on Sunday. CLICK HERE
• JOINT PRACTICE CANCELED: The Tennessee Titans were scheduled to have joint practices with the New England Patriots, but after a scary injury to Isaiah Bolden, those sessions have been canceled. CLICK HERE