Ryan Tannehill can start shopping for a home in Nashville.
The Tennessee Titans and Tannehill have agreed to terms on a four-year extension worth $118 million, including $62 million in fully guaranteed money and $91 million in total guarantees, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Sunday.
This deal is significant for two reasons: First, the Titans lock up who they see as their quarterback for the next three to five years, and commit a significant amount of money to do so. Secondly, they get one important deal done and clear the runway to potentially use the franchise tag on running back Derrick Henry, who's also headed toward free agency.
Tannehill, the reigning NFL Comeback Player of the Year, earned the extension by coming off the bench to help the Titans turn their season around, posting the league's best passer rating in 2019 (117.5) and completing 70.3 percent of his passes for 2,742 yards and a 22-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Tannehill also handed the ball to Henry plenty, so much that the latter finished as the league's rushing king. Tennessee's postseason run to the AFC Championship Game followed a similar path, with Henry racking up 446 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 83 attempts in three playoff games, while Tannehill attempted just 60 passes combined between those three games (for a sterling 5-1 TD-INT ratio and 98.5 passer rating).
The latter detail could be held against Tannehill to diminish his contributions, but the results are undeniable. With Tannehill starting under center, the Titans won seven of their final 10 games to earn a wild-card berth, upset the Patriots at home, stunned the Ravens in Baltimore and competed with the Chiefs before the eventual Super Bowl LIV champions pulled away in the latter stages of the AFC title game. That outcome was a far cry from how the Titans were performing with former No. 2 overall pick Marcus Mariota at the controls, and Tennessee deemed it worthy of a healthy extension.
