WEDNESDAY BUZZ COLUMN

When the Dolphins and Eagles met recently, the starting quarterbacks shared an unfortunate distinction. Of the QBs with the NFL’s 20 biggest contracts, Ryan Tannehill and Sam Bradford are the only ones who have had neither a winning season nor led his team to the playoffs. And Bradford, whose Eagles are tied for first place in the NFC East, is closer to changing that than Tannehill is.

That factoid wouldn't be quite as disconcerting if Tannehill’s play was consistently good. But it hasn’t been. And some pundits are starting to go on the attack.

“Tannehill is going to get more people fired,” former CBS analyst Shannon Sharpe said. “He’s not done.”

“With Billy Lazor gone, I assume Tannehill will stop telegraphing every pass, show pocket awareness and play with anticipation and accuracy,” ESPN analyst and former personnel executive Louis Riddick said sarcastically.

This much is clear: The Dolphins need a head coach and/or coordinator who can reverse this regression. If not, it will force a decision in spring 2017, just before the big base salaries on his $96 million contract start to kick in.

Despite his uneven play this season, the Dolphins remain committed to him, though they might draft a quarterback as protection behind him. They won't find anyone better in free agency this offseason, and they know that.

Keep in mind the $21.5 million in guaranteed money in Tannehill’s deal includes the signing bonus and his 2015 and 2016 base salaries, but nothing beyond, allowing Miami a clean break if he underperforms in 2016.

He's due between $17.9 million and $19.5 million every season from 2017 through 2020, after making $9.3 million in 2016.

One caveat: $3.5 million of his non-guaranteed $17.9 million base salary in 2017 becomes guaranteed on the fifth day of the 2016 league year, 17 months before that season.

“They need [a head coach] with a proven record to clean things up and somebody who can put together a staff to resurrect the quarterback’s career, somebody that can really get this guy playing with confidence and changing a little bit of his demeanor with his teammates,” CBS analyst and former NFL MVP Rich Gannon said by phone. “This isn’t like JP Losman or Colin Kaepernick. He throws the ball well enough.

“He has made steady progress in terms of completion percentage, decision making, touchdown to interception ratio. The guy is tough and durable. What’s troubling is the most important stat of all, which is wins and losses. That’s ultimately how you’re judged in our business.”

Tannehill is 28-32 as a starter.

Of the quarterbacks with the 20 richest contracts, Tannehill (21 TDs, 11 picks) has the fifth-worst passer rating (88.3) and the fifth-worst completion percentage (61.4) this season.

And among every quarterback in the league, Tannehill is third-worst in percentage of third-down throws (28.3) that are completed for first downs; only Bradford and Nick Foles are worse.

Former Falcons and Packers executive Ken Herock, who now prepares prospects for the NFL Draft, told me two years ago that Tannehill will always be a 7-9 or 8-8 quarterback and he still feels that way. Why so?

“I never thought he had the consistency to be accurate enough or make enough big plays,” Herock said recently. “I can see him maybe slipping into the top 15 among quarterbacks some season but not consistently staying there. He can be a starter on a 9- or maybe a 10-win team if he had a better supporting cast. But he can’t take a team over the hump.

“But where do you find someone better? It would not be in free agency. It would have to be in the draft. I would try to go another route, bring in somebody to compete with him.”

Others view him more favorably.

CBS’ Phil Simms said he is going to be the starter here for a long time.

“He’s a really solid NFL quarterback,” Simms said. "[Longterm], we’ll judge him on the won/loss record.”

Gannon said Tannehill “reminds me of [Cincinnati’s] Andy Dalton but hasn’t shown the consistency [that Dalton has this season]. Dalton worked with [QB guru and former MLB pitching coach] Tom House. There is some merit to working with someone. Ryan has thrown the deep ball so much better and has to continue to work on it. I’m a prime example: It’s an area you can get better.

“Everything around Ryan is impacting his production or lack of production. I look at changes with the coordinator, with the head coaches, the front office and philosophical changes. Being sacked [so many] times. All these things impact growth and development at that position.”

Gannon said Tannehill “has to be more demonstrative. I would like to see him show some emotion at some point. If it’s me, I’m marching to New York to [owner] Stephen Ross’ office [this offseason] and say, ‘I’m pissed off and I want to see change. I’m not going to tolerate this anymore!’ Unless he’s OK with how things are. Some guys are OK with that.”

Gannon said he told his Raiders teammates in 1999, “If this [expletive] doesn’t change, I will sell life insurance.” Gannon wants to see that fire from Tannehill.

CHATTER

### Yes, Erik Spoelstra simply must find a way to play Hassan Whiteside more against small lineups with five shooters; with Whiteside on the bench the entire fourth quarter, Washington outscored the Heat 27-19 in Monday’s 114-103 Wizards win. But in Spoelstra’s defense, consider:

1) The Heat has outscored teams this season by 24 points in 49 minutes with a lineup featuring Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Goran Dragic and two wing players or a wing and Josh McRoberts.

2) Though the Heat holds teams to 33.7 percent shooting from 15 feet and beyond (third best in the league), that opponent percentage rises by a few points with Whiteside in the game. As Boston’s Jarred Sullinger told us, Whiteside never leaves the paint to defend jump shooters, leaving Miami vulnerable when Whiteside is assigned to defend a skilled perimeter shooter.

And as Spoelstra noted today, leaving Whiteside in the game against a team playing five guards would also be problematic in transition. That said, the Heat cannot allow other teams to dictate when they use Whiteside. There must be some happy medium here.

### The Heat is now 3-1 when Whiteside plays less than half the game this season (as he did last night) and 7-7 in those games since he became a starter last season.

### Wizards coach Randy Wittman said the Heat doesn’t want to post up Whiteside much; as Whiteside noted last week, Miami runs no plays for him.

He's 35th of 36th centers in post-up efficiency, because of turnovers, as ESPN's Tom Haberstroh noted.

But he can score on more than just dunks. For example, he’s shooting 48.5 percent on hook shots (16 for 33) and 47.3 percent (26 for 55) from 3 to 10 feet.

### The Washington-based coach of Georgia oral commitment Jacob Eason, the nation’s No. 1 quarterback prospect, told Canesport that UM is not in his top two or three.

UM will be content with Jack Allison (the No. 6 quarterback) as the only QB in this class. Some UM people have compared Allison to former UM star Vinny Testaverde.

### A few prominent UM players privately were expressing pessimism today about the chances of offensive coordinator James Coley returning next season. We'll see. Coley has drawn interest from Arizona State, gridironnow.com first reported. Neither Coley nor Mark Richt has addressed Coley's status publicly.

### Coconut Creek three-star safety Malek Young, a Georgia oral commitment, will visit UM, but he still has Georgia No. 1 and Auburn and Ohio State tied for second.

### In UM's 66-55 win over the Gators tonight, the Hurricanes gave us another reminder how dangerous they are when their starting backcourt is playing at its best.

Sheldon McClellan shot 7 for 12 on a 24-point night, while Angel Rodriguez had 17, shooting 5 for 8. Throw in 9 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks from Tonye Jekiri, and that was enough to dispatch the Gators.

UM (8-1) shot just 39 percent, and its bench delivered just three points on 0 for 12 shooting. But UM outrebounded the Gators, 42-31, and held them to 39 percent shooting, including 1 for 12 on threes.

### Several people have asked us on Twitter whether cornerback Cary Williams, cut by Seattle on Monday, is a possibility for the Dolphins.

Though Williams would instantly be Miami's second-best corner, the Dolphins didn't claim him off waivers (nobody did) and hadn't called to offer a free agent contract as of 6:30 tonight. We'll see if that changes.

Williams started every game for the Ravens in 2011 and '12 and for the Eagles in 2013 and '14 and had 10 starts for the Seahawks this season. He has nine career interceptions.

### Mercury Morris, to TMZ, on the possibility of the Carolina Panthers finishing unbeaten: “No one cares about the second to do anything. Do you know about the second biggest canyon in the U.S.? No, because everyone only knows about the Grand Canyon."

Twitter: @flasportsbuzz