Let’s leave the incredulousness at the door on this one. It’s easy to dismiss a rumor or believe that you know what your favorite team will do on draft day based on your own take or analysis. But let’s also get one thing clear: every team only has so many days leading up to the 2012 NFL Draft to get ready. So when a team schedules a personal workout with Ryan Tannehill and has several personnel taking up their time to be there, well, that’s a major investment to say the least.
That’s why Peter King spent so much time this morning focused on two teams that are holding personal workouts with Tannehill: the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. King writes:
Fact is, this is the time of year — 24 days before Round 1 — when teams buzz from town to town to get their drafting ducks in a row. The Eagles working out Tannehill could just be Philly doing its due diligence on a good player. That’s what it probably is. But with the Eagles and quarterbacks, you never know. It could be more. The Eagles wouldn’t seem to have a quarterback need, with Michael Vick set to play the season at 32, and the Eagles wouldn’t seem to have the ammo to move up from their 15th spot in the first round — without including their 2013 first-rounder — to get their talons on a quarterback who might be picked as high as fourth (by Cleveland).
King goes on to write “By the way, Matt Cassel’s head shouldn’t rest too easy on the pillow tonight either. The Chiefs travel to College Station later this week to get their own private session with Tannehill.”
The Browns have checked in on him, as have the Seahawks and Dolphins among other teams. No one knows exactly where he will go, unlike Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III, but it’s possible a team will want to move into the No. 3 or 4 position to get Tannehill if they fall in love with the former Texas A&M quarterback. The cost seems mighty high for a player with limited experience, but it could be the upside that everyone is focusing on.
This will not be popular for most Chiefs fans, since most believe the team still needs to use its draft picks well and not trade up for an unknown commodity. Perhaps the risk like this is something the team should take in 2013 when they have further bolstered the roster. At the very least, it provides intrigue leading up to the main event.
For more on the Chiefs, head to Arrowhead Pride, and for more mock draft updates, head to SB Nation Kansas City's StoryStream.