The last time Ryan Tannehill suited up for the Titans as a backup quarterback was when he joined the team in 2019 and he didn’t spend a long time in that role before replacing Marcus Mariota as the team’s starter.
Mariota had to adjust to a new reality when that happened and Tannehill will have to do the same in the coming weeks. Titans head coach Mike Vrabel announced this week that rookie Will Levis will remain the starter for the rest of the season.
Levis has started two games since Tannehill went down with an ankle injury and Tannehill said on Wednesday that he will do what he can to help Levis thrive in the starting job.
“It is hard,” Tannehill said, via the team’s website. “I have never been in this situation before. So, it hits hard, and it’s never a situation that anyone wants to be in. But it’s the situation that I’m in, and I have to walk through it. [Will] has done some good things obviously. He came in and played well . . . and I’m going to be here to answer any questions he might have and help him out along the way.”
Tannehill’s play was shaky enough to spur talks about a change before his injury, so there wouldn’t seem to be much chance of the Titans reversing course this year. Projecting what next offseason will bring is difficult at this point, but Tannehill will turn 36 next summer and it won’t come as a great surprise if another extended run as a starter is out of the cards for the 2012 first-round pick.
