DAVIE, Fl. – If rookie tight end Michael Egnew is any measure, the Miami Dolphins got an absolute steal by drafting quarterback Ryan Tannehill, the Texas A&M product, with the No 8 pick in the first round.
"Anytime you get a good quarterback like him throwing to you, you're just like, 'Wow, it's amazing,' " said Egnew, Miami's third-round pick.
"The passes are accurate, they're on point. Good guy, great guy. I can't give him enough praise. He's excellent."
Miami coach Joe Philbin wasn't quite as effusive, but he liked what he saw from Tannehill (6-4, 221) on Friday, the first day of the Dolphins' three-day rookie mini-camp.
"I like the way he threw a couple of double moves, he threw a couple of deep balls," Philbin said. "I thought he threw those relatively well. It looked like he threw the ball on the move well…given the fact it's day one, practice one, I thought he did some good things."
Egnew, already in the running to be Tannehill's biggest fan, has a whiff of credibility because he used to catch passes from quarterback Blaine Gabbert when they played together at Missouri. Jacksonville picked Gabbert 10th in last year's draft.
On the other hand, Egnew might be biased. He competed against Tannehill in high school in Texas. Their schools – Tannehill attended Big Spring; Egnew attended Plainview -- were in the same district.
But to Egnew's point, Tannehill did look good Friday. His passes were crisp and accurate. His timing was good. He looked confident and in command, even to the point he was frequently seen instructing teammates.
That's not a big surprise. Miami's offense is very similar to what Tannehill ran at Texas A&M. He said about "80 to 85 percent" is familiar. That's understandable because Mike Sherman, Tannehill's former coach at A&M, is now the Dolphins' offensive coordinator.
"I try to help out as much as I can," Tannehill said. "Being in the offense for four years back at A&M, it's not my first go-round so I'm trying to help these guys learn as much as I can."
For a first day, Friday was a rousing success for Tannehill.
"I feel it was a good start," Tannehill said of his first taste of a NFL practice.
And he looked good having fun. At least that's what Egnew thought. The bottom line, of course, is that Egnew is merely a draftee with no NFL experience. And he was talking after the first day of a three-day rookie/free agent mini-camp. But Tannehill impressed him in a few ways.
"Ryan is a heckuva leader," Egnew gushed, later adding, "I first got here and he immediately started teaching me his plays and stuff. Before I even came here he was texting me like pictures of his playbook and just trying to get me acclimated to his offense, which is quite different than what we had at Missouri."
So there you have it. Ryan Tannehill. Football god.
OK, Egnew didn't say anything close to that, but that's what Dolphins fans want to hear.
And, yeah, for one day, Tannehill did look like, well, not a football god, but a darn good choice as the No. 8 pick in the draft.
He threw one incredibly sweet pass to wide receiver A.J. Guyton that traveled about 40 yards in the air and was softly placed in his arms for maybe a 60- or 65-yard touchdown.
Tannehill, however, focused on other things when asked how well his day went.
"I was a little rusty," he said. "I've got to clean some things up."
He even mentioned a pass he messed up.
"I underthrew one stutter-go on the left side…underthrew it by 5 yards," he said. "The guy ended up making a great one-handed catch for me but I've got to get that ball outside."
But overall, it was a good start. We'll see where it goes from here.
Tannehill isn't expected to be the starter in the regular season. It's expected that job goes to one of the veterans, either Matt Moore or David Garrard.
But if Tannehill strings together more days such as Friday, who knows?
