No bad blood here.
Titans rookie Malik Willis was recently asked about the now-viral comments made by veteran quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who said this month that it wasn’t his job to mentor the third-round draft pick.
“What comment?” Willis joked Friday, according to NFL.com. “Oh, man, we chopped it up. I mean, it was never anything negative. Ryan’s a good dude. Like I said he had us over to the house. Everything’s cool.”
The Titans selected Willis 86th overall in the 2022 NFL Draft last month. Though Tannehill, 33, said he texted the former Liberty product, 22, after the draft, Tennessee’s starting QB didn’t seem keen on taking on an advisor-like role to his new teammate.
“That’s part of being in a quarterback room, in the same room — we’re competing against each other, we’re watching the same tape, we’re doing the same drills,” Tannehill told reporters earlier this month. “I don’t think it’s my job to mentor him. But if he learns from me along the way, then that’s a great thing.”
Tannehill’s comments soon spread across social media, with Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner lambasting the him on Twitter.
Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill in January 2022 Getty Images
“I will never understand the ‘I’m not here to mentor the next guy’ mentality… so for all you young QBs that need a mentor, DM me & I’ll be that guy, happy to help in any way I can!” Warner tweeted earlier this month.
Titans coach Mike Vrabel, meanwhile, didn’t appear to take issue with Tannehill’s comments.
“His job is to prepare to help us win a bunch of games and be a great teammate and help out,” Vrabel said last week. “And I know that he’s going to do that. So that was not any sort of issue for me.”
Tennessee is looking ahead to the 2022 season following a disappointing finish in January when the top-seeded Titans were bounced out of the divisional round of the AFC playoffs by the Bengals.
