The Miami Dolphins and Ryan Tannehill have come to the agreement that the best course for repairing a torn ACL in his left knee is to opt for reconstructive surgery and so the quarterback will have that surgery and be placed on the injured reserve list.
That means Tannehill, 29, will miss all of the 2017 season. There is no chance he can return from IR later in the season.
His next opportunity to play for the Dolphins will be 2018.
A source told The Miami Herald the final decision was made Friday evening when coach Adam Gase and Tannehill spoke about the options open to them.
Tannehill, who missed the end of the 2016 season with a partially torn ACL, had been studying all options since he suffered the new ACL injury a week ago Thursday. He considered all options, including submitting to treatment rather than surgery again as well as studied whether to have an autograft in the knee (tendon from his own body) or an allograft (harvested from outside his body, usually a cadaver).
It is unclear whether Tannehill will have an allograft or autograft. But he definitely will have reconstructive surgery.
Tannehill is expected to have the surgery sometime next week. It is expected he will be ready for the starting of training camp in 2018.
