No coach in the NFL knows Ryan Tannehill better than Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Mike Sherman, who coached the quarterback during his time at Texas A&M.
This should put the Dolphins at an advantage in evaluating whether or not Tannehill should be their pick in the first round Thursday night.
Or so you would think.
"We've talked obviously a lot," Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said, according to The Miami Herald. "We've had draft meetings. We've discussed him as an individual. We've watched his film. Obviously, Mike has been around Ryan for a long, long time. But it wasn't like we sat around and said, 'OK, what about him at No. 8?'
"Remember a coach doesn't have the same perspective on the draft that a general manager has," Philbin said. "A coach doesn't exhaustively watch player A and compare him to B and to C and to D and to F ... We really haven't had any discussions where he should go. But certainly he's a resource, so we've asked him some questions about him."
We suppose this makes sense, but when it comes to deciding on Tannehill, what outside factors really need to be studied? The Dolphins desperately crave a franchise quarterback. The question about Tannehill is complex yet simple: Can he be that guy?