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Broncos Urged to Replace QB1 Jarrett Stidham with Ryan Tannehill
The Denver Broncos need a quarterback upgrade, but would Ryan Tannehill make sense?
Soon-to-be 36-year-old veteran quarterback Ryan Tannehill may want to prolong his productive NFL career, but he's running out of runway. Armed with an NFL Comeback Player of the Year award on his resume, it's possible the right team could wring one more year out of a player with so much experience.
Finding the right branch to cushion Tannehill's landing is the key for the former Tennessee Titans starter. To that end, NFL.com's Nick Shook is predicting Tannehill could extend his stay in the NFL ranks with the quarterback-needy Denver Broncos. Shook writes:
"The QB carousel has spun around and spit out veterans to a number of new homes, but it's gradually slowing -- and Tannehill finds himself still seated upon his wooden horse, ready to loosen his grip and prepare for launch. Where should he go, might we ask? Why not trade a wooden horse for a real one in Denver, home of the Broncos, who just so happen to be in the market for another quarterback? Jarrett Stidham is on the roster and started the final two games in 2023, but unless Sean Payton sees something the rest of us don’t, I can’t anticipate that Stidham will be the answer for all of 2024. A union between Denver and Tannehill, who still was decent when asked to step in even after losing his job to Will Levis in Tennessee, seems like a safe, wise move for both parties."
The Broncos are walking a perilous tightrope as they head into the 2024 NFL draft still badly exposed at the quarterback position. Jarrett Stidham currently projects as QB1, but he hardly gets Broncos Country's pulse racing. However, signing Tannehill wouldn't exactly light a fire in the fanbase, either.
Free-agent quarterbacks have found new NFL homes quite quickly of late. Sean Payton and company reportedly explored signing Sam Darnold, so while the Broncos stopped short of pulling the trigger, we know the team is looking for a QB upgrade. Darnold went on to sign a one-year deal with the Minnesota Vikings.
Tannehill is undoubtedly moving toward the end of his career, so he couldn't be expected to step in and suddenly turn the Broncos into a playoff team. His value would be as a veteran option the Broncos could trot out to bridge between the present and a highly-drafted quarterback.
Rebuilding teams aren't built on flashy signings. All too often, the importance of employing a few key veterans to do the heavy lifting amid a rebuild gets lost in the shuffle.
Tannehill has always shown the ability to rebound from career setbacks. That includes recovering from serious injury, getting benched, changing teams after flaming out as a former first-round pick, and even switching positions along the way, dating back to his college days.
In the final analysis, signing a veteran stopgap like Tannehill might not appeal to impatient Broncos fans right now, but neither does renewing the insurance policy on one's house. It's better to have and not need than to need and not have.
Simply put, the Broncos can't afford to navigate the 2024 season without installing a safety net under center. That is unless you consider Jarrett Stidham to be such.
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