The roller-coaster ride known as the draft stock of Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill heading into the 2012 NFL Draft is one wild ride. He was listed as a second- or third-round prospect only weeks ago before finally crescendoing as a possible No. 3 or 4 pick in the entire draft last week. Now he’s experiencing some pushback in various mock drafts, and Evan Silva is the latest to downgrade him to the No. 11 position for the Kansas City Chiefs to take in the first round.
Silva writes, “Kansas City can’t pass on Tannehill if he slips past Miami.” That’s a short piece of analysis that really explains nothing at all. The Chiefs can’t pass on him? Why not? If Tannehill is one of several quarterbacks with question marks in the draft, what would keep them from taking Brandon Weeden or Kirk Cousins or Brock Osweiler a bit later instead?
The reality is that if Tannehill slips by the Dolphins, he could just as easily slip by the Chiefs. Scott Pioli and Romeo Crennel have been clear that they would like to upgrade the competition at quarterback this offseason. However, they will also follow their draft board and personal opinions on a player, media coverage be damned.
The Chiefs will personally work out Tannehill before the draft. If they like him, they will take him. If not, they will let him go. It’s really that simple and there’s no way any NFL analyst can know one way or the other until the draft card is submitted.
Despite what Evan Silva writes, Tannehill is not a slam-dunk pick. Jimmy Clausen fell in 2010 to the late second round despite Mel Kiper’s insistence he was incredible. Ryan Mallet fell to the third round last year even though everyone raved about his arm leading up to the draft. Declarations on any quarterback other than Andrew Luck or RG3 are simple guesses thrown like darts at a wall.
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