Ryan Tannehill Is the Best Choice for Vikings QB2
When the news broke recently that the Vikings have had conversations with former Dolphins and Titans starting QB Ryan Tannehill, I immediately thought he would be the perfect veteran quarterback for the team to sign as the No. 2 to J.J. McCarthy.
Since Tannehill did not sign with any team as a free agent last year, he slipped under the radar a bit entering 2025 free agency, but NFL teams understood his situation and capabilities. He has said he won’t return to the NFL unless it’s a perfect situation, and I think that’s what he would find with the Vikings, who currently have only McCarthy and Brett Rypien as QBs under contract.
Ryan Tannehill Is the Best Choice for Vikings QB2
In his media session this week, Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah acknowledged that he and Kevin O’Connell talked with Aaron Rodgers, whom O’Connell knows well. However, as reported last week, the Vikings aren’t pursuing Rodgers, who is expected to sign with the Steelers after Russell Wilson signed with the Giants this week.
As I wrote last week, it’s good the Vikings have stepped out of the Rodgers derby with his drama and narcissism and are firmly committed to turning over the starting quarterback reins to McCarthy.
I definitely like McCarthy’s potential and the prospect of O’Connell and quarterback coach Josh McCown coaching him up to become a Pro Bowl-caliber player who can achieve NFL playoff success as he did as a national champion quarterback at Michigan and as he works with an excellent supporting cast in Minnesota.
But despite Adofo-Mensah’s statement that the team is “excited about” Rypien, the Vikings need to sign a vet with more starting experience than Rypien’s four starts with a lowly 59.9 passer rating over his six-year career that has included stops with six teams.
A quality No. 2 quarterback is critical in the team-building process with the injury factor in the NFL and the Vikings need a QB with a better resume than Rypien for the No. 2 job on a playoff-caliber team that has loaded up further in free agency and has a projected 22-year old starting QB in McCarthy with no NFL starts who is coming off two knee surgeries that sidelined him in the 2024 regular season.
The 36-year-old Tannehill should be the QB who joins the Vikings. The former Dolphins first-round pick was a six-year starter in Miami (37-40 record) before being traded in 2019 to Tennessee. He was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year in a Pro Bowl season in 2019 when he was the league passer rating leader (117.5) as he quarterbacked the Titans to the AFC title game.
Tannehill was Tennessee’s starter for four more seasons but battled injuries his last two years before sitting out last season. His record in Tennessee was 39-24, and his career passer rating is 91.2.
Tannehill certainly realizes that he can’t sit out two years and expect to return to the NFL as a $10 million-plus player. He surely wants to go to a team where he can start and may wait until after the draft to gauge all his options. I think he will see the Vikings as his best opportunity, considering it’s a playoff team with an unproven quarterback coming off a major injury in McCarthy.
Tannehill took some heat in 2022 when he was the Titans starter, and Tennessee drafted Malik Willis in the third round. When asked if he would mentor Willis, Tannehill said, “I don’t think it’s my job to mentor him.” He later clarified that he would “be a great teammate.”
With the team-first atmosphere O’Connell preaches, Tannehill would work fine with McCarthy and Rypien in a positive quarterback room.
The Vikings have $24.2 million in cap room and probably want to sign Tannehill on a deal similar to Darnold’s last year, which was for one year and $10 million (plus the Vikings would offer lucrative incentives if Tannehill becomes the starter with a huge bonus for starting and winning playoff games).
Russell Wilson is signing with the Giants for one year and $10.5 million, plus incentives to push his overall 2025 compensation to $21 million. That deal is good for the Vikings to point to in the Tannehill negotiations since he’s likely seeking closer to $20-25 million for one year.
Others Potentially in the Mix
There are plenty of other available QBs with starting experience who the Vikings are likely considering. This list includes Carson Wentz, Joe Flacco, Drew Lock, Desmond Ridder, and ex-Vikings Case Keenum and Teddy Bridgewater.
Another free-agent QB who was a high draft pick is Marshall, Minnesota-native and North Dakota State product Trey Lance, who was picked No. 3 overall by San Francisco in 2021 but was a bust there and did not fare well in Dallas either after being traded there. But Lance has only five career starts with a low 69.8 passer rating.
Tannehill is a big step above all these other quarterbacks, and he’s the guy the Vikings should sign either before or immediately after the draft so he can learn the system and be ready to take reps when OTAs begin in May.
Around the NFL Free Agency Observations
1. Tennessee holds the No. 1 overall pick in the April 24-26 draft, and they raved about Miami QB Cam Ward after his Pro Day this week. Ward will visit their Nashville facility in the coming days. The Titans seem to be intent on picking Ward, but they could also be talking him up to try to drum up a big trade offer from another team. New Titans GM Mike Borgonzi admitted as much with this quote: “I would say everything is still on the table.”
It’s all part of the pre-draft smoke screens teams send out this time of year but considering Will Levis has not emerged as a big-time QB in his first two seasons for the Titans and Ward is talented but not the can’t miss prospect of an Andrew Luck to draw a huge trade offer, I think the Titans will stay put and pick Ward at the top spot.
2. The NFL annual meeting begins on Sunday, and there are some interesting rule changes that the league owners will consider. Included is a change to touchbacks on kickoffs that would bring the ball out to the 35-yard line instead of the 30 and encourage more returns.
Another proposal is in part a result of travesty against the Vikings when a facemask grab in the end zone by the Rams’ Byron Young on Sam Darnold was missed by the officials, resulting in a safety that effectively ended the Vikings’ chances. The proposed change would expand replay officials’ ability to advise the referee on “clear and obvious video evidence” of facemasks, horse collars, defenseless player hits, and tripping and roughing/running into the kicker. This should pass (unfortunately, one year too late to help the Vikings in that Thursday night game in L.A.).
The Packers also have submitted a proposed rule change to outlaw the Tush Push play that is such a big part of the Eagles’ goal-line and short-yardage offense. I don’t love the play, but I expect this proposal to fail as the owners will say defenses need to do a better job of stopping the play.
Longtime Viking Says Goodbye
Jeff Diamond is a former Vikings GM, former Tennessee Titans President and was selected NFL Executive of the Year after the Vikings’ 15-1 season in 1998. He now works for the NFL agent group IFA based in Minneapolis and does other sports consulting and media work along with college/corporate speaking. Follow him and direct message him on Twitter — @jeffdiamondnfl
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