Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill Ready For 2017 With Fully Healed Knee
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The NFL is currently gearing up for the new league year to begin, with trades and free agency kicking off in exactly two weeks.
The Miami Dolphins have already been busy, reportedly acquiring one former Pro Bowl offensive player in tight end Julius Thomas and trading away another in left tackle Branden Albert.
Miami is coming off of its first successful season in quite a while as they finished above .500, won double-digit games and made the playoffs, all for the first time since 2008.
Even with all the success, a hot topic around Dolphins fans since late December has had to do with perhaps the team's most important player and the status of his injury.
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill was lost for the season when he suffered a sprained ACL and MCL in his left knee during Miami's win over the Arizona Cardinals on December 11th.
Tannehill was never officially ruled out though, and he even resumed practicing during the week leading up to the Dolphins playoff loss in Pittsburgh.
While that seemed like a sign that the injury was healing nicely, it was shortly after Miami's season ended that reports began to emerge about Tannehill possibly needing surgery after all.
Tannehill never ended up going under the knife, and now Armando Salguero of CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald is reporting that not only will Tannehill NOT need surgery, but the 28-year-old quarterback is actually fully healed and ready to participate in the Dolphins' offseason training program.
Per the report, Tannehill passed multiple tests that measured how well his ACL and MCL had healed without surgery.
He also was given the thumbs up by team doctors who were satisfied by what they saw after examining the knee.
According to Salguero, Tannehill isn't any more susceptible to future ACL injuries after completing his rehab than he would have been if he'd had surgery on the ligament.
Tannehill's rehab and recovery process, which ended in February, included adult stem cell treatment amongst other things.
The fifth year QB was having his best season as a pro under new Dolphins head coach Adam Gase before suffering the injury.