Former Miami Dolphin quarterback Ryan Tannehill had his fair share of impressive deep passes during his tenure with the team. Remember that bomb to Kenny Stills in Los Angeles? How about that rolling shot to MarQueis Gray against Pittsburgh?
But you’ll have a hard time finding anyone who would refer to the deep ball as one of Ryan’s strengths as a passer. He struggled with consistency in this area, just as Mike Wallace.
But Tannehill is now gone and in his place, Ryan Fitzpatrick. The stark differences in their strengths as players will take some getting used to.
One area that Pro Football Focus measures quarterbacks that represents this difference: “big-time throws”. A big time throw, according to Pro Football Focus, is defined as “accurate passes deep downfield or into tight windows”.
On 318 pass attempts in 2018, Tannehill completed 8 “big-time throws” vs. 18 turnover-worthy passes. That ratio truly does embody why it was time for the Dolphins to make this foundational change.
Meanwhile, Ryan Fitzpatrick logged 20 “big time throws” in 2018 (on less attempts) and failed to match Tannehill’s 18 turnover-worthy passes.
Pro Football Focus also notes that Fitzpatrick had the highest yards per attempt (19.2 YPA) on passes attempted 20+ yards down the field. Tannehill averaged 10.2 yards in the same area of the field.
Now, this isn’t to say that Fitzpatrick is going to revolutionize the Dolphins offense and turn things to fireworks. But he’ll certainly be more aggressive with the football and he’ll probably hit more deep shots than we’ve ever seen in a single season from Ryan.
