Vrabel Says Tannehill 'Of Course' is Starting QB Today, But Makes No September Guarantee

Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel said the Titans will ''continue to improve'' their roster this spring, and he made no guarantees on who will be around in September, including quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel knows it's only March, and he doesn't have to play a meaningful game for another five-plus months. So when asked if veteran Ryan Tannehill will be his quarterback this fall, he said ''of course.''

Which is the perfect answer for late-March.

“Of course we do (he expects Tannehill to start),” Vrabel said in a ballroom at the Arizona Biltmore Resort, where NFL higher-ups are meeting this week. “ We’re in March, we’re continuing to build a football team, the best football team we can. And Ryan is healthy, he’s getting healthy, I would say that he’s putting work in, it’s been good to see him around the building.

“So, yeah, we always expect that, but to make predictions — I think I’ve been through this last year — [I’m] not going to commit to anybody being on our roster in September. I’ve seen it change too quickly. And of course we want Ryan as our quarterback and everybody else that’s helped us win.  That's what we want.”

Tannehill, who will be 35 in late July, has been in the league for 11 years and has played in 57 games with the Titans since 2017. He has thrown for 12,831 yards and 89 touchdowns, and led them to the playoffs for three straight seasons. An ankle injury derailed his 2022 season.

He's 2-3 in the postseason, but he's also lost three straight playoff games. He's in the final season of a four-year, $118 million contract, and there's certainly no guarantee that the Titans and new general manager Ran Carthon want to head further down the road with him.

So now the question becomes this: Do the Titans move on from him BEFORE the start of this season?

If it's possible to be clear AND vague at the same time, Vrabel accomplished that Monday morning when he said they are ''continuing to build'' a team. That includes the quarterback spot, where Tannehill has been good but not great, and Malik Willis failed to impress as a rookie last season once Tannehill went down. 

Star running back Derrick Henry falls into this conversation as well as the Titans try to figure out what's best for 2023 — and down the road. The Pro Bowl running back is also in this final year of his contract, a four-year $50 million deal he signed prior to the 2020 season. Henry turned 29 in January and has played seven seasons in Tennessee already.

"We've decided that we want to make a personal connection with every player on our team with every coach. Some of those connections and relationships are stronger than others,'' Vrabel said. 'We want to help them on the field, that's our first job, and off the field as well with anything they have. We're together a lot and that personal connection means something.

"But there is a business side, a professional side, that we all have to work through. All these players that have been here for five years since I've been here, they've meant a lot to me, to our program, to our organization, to our fans, to our coaching. We'll continue to work through all those professional conversations the best that we can as we continue to build a football team that we feel like can win a championship.''

So conversations will be had all spring, both with players and with other teams, on players up and down the Titans' roster. It's the nature of the business, and both sides know it.

"It's just having conversations throughout the roster with players. Are their contracts up, or they have years remaining on their contracts or players who are restricted free agents, you're always trying to have honest conversations with them and understand that there is a business side to this and trying to do what's been for the team.''  

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