Greg Jennings: Ryan Tannehill has had his hands tied, lacks ‘aura’ in huddle
Fresh off a season with the Miami Dolphins, Greg Jennings is once again having his say on quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
Jennings, who recently announced his retirement from the NFL, said that Tannehill could conceivably be a star, but it’s hard to say definitively given the limitations put on him by Miami.
“I believe that he has what it takes, but because his hands have been tied – because he hasn’t been able to really showcase who he is as a player because of the system or whatever the case may have been – this is his opportunity to take more of a responsibility and a role of, ‘I got this, guys. You can trust me. Coach, you can trust me. Give me more freedom so I can really show my teammates, and even myself, who I can be in this league,'” Jennings said on Tiki and Tierney on CBS Sports Radio Wednesday. “Because quite honestly, right now he thinks it, but it’s never happened, so no one knows.”
Jennings did, however, sense a bit of false bravado from Tannehill.
“Honestly, I had the luxury of being in huddle with Brett [Favre], had the luxury of being in the huddle with Aaron [Rodgers]. There’s a huge difference. There’s just a huge difference,” Jennings said. “It’s more of that ‘it’ factor… I don’t feel like he has that ‘aura’… I didn’t experience that in the huddle. Does he have confidence? Absolutely, 100 percent. But does it come off as almost forced, like, ‘I want to be able to do this?’ In my opinion, yes.
“Now, again, I think a lot of that had to deal with the fact that he wasn’t really able to be who he wanted to be. He was kind of forced to be this robot in this system. That was evident. That was felt. That was the vibe that you got when you were in the huddle, like, ‘Okay, we’re going to make this work.’ It’s just different. It’s a huge difference when you step into the huddle and a quarterback carries that presence of, ‘Look, it does not matter what the play is. I’m going to make it work.'”
This is roughly in line with what Jennings said in February. Jennings’s words and previous reports paint a picture of a coaching staff that was not comfortable putting the offense firmly in Tannehill’s hands. Perhaps that will change under Adam Gase.
