COMPETITION OVER AS TANNEHILL IS NAMED STARTING QUARTERBACK

When the Miami Dolphins selected Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill with the 8th overall pick in April, every draft "expert" and most fans expected him to start the 2012 season, if not the entire season, as a backup quarterback. The consensus was that Tannehill had all the tools to become a quality NFL starter but having only started 19 games in college was going to hurt his progress early in his pro career. Fast forwarded 4 months and Tannehill has gone from starting long shot, to being named the starter. Today head coach Joe Philbin made the announcement that Tannehill had won the open quarterback competition between veterans Matt Moore, David Garrard and Pat Devlin.

Ryan Tannehill will likely see the majority of the snaps in this upcoming Friday's game against the Atlanta Falcons. The third preseason game is usually treated as the "dress rehearsal" for the regular season with the starters typically playing until the end of the 3rd quarter. How much, if any, that Tannehill will play in the fourth and final preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys has yet to be determined. 

Tannehill becomes the first Dolphins rookie quarterback ever to open the season as the starting quarterback. Hall of Fame quaterbacks Bob Griese and Dan Marino both did not start from day one.

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