Titans' Willis has no issues with Tannehill's mentorship remarks

Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill recently said his job isn't to mentor rookie passer Malik Willis, drawing criticism from around the NFL. Willis, however, has no issues with the remarks.

"We chopped it up," he said at rookie minicamp Friday. "It was never anything negative. Ryan is a good dude. Like I said, he had us over at the house. Everything's cool."

Tannehill said May 3 that he sees Willis as a competitor, but it'd be a "great thing" if the first-year passer learned from him along the way.

Titans head coach Mike Vrabel also defended Tannehill.

"I thought Ryan handled that very well," Vrabel said Friday. "I thought he was genuine, I thought he was authentic, and I know Ryan is a great teammate."

Vrabel added: "His job is to prepare, to help us win a bunch of games, and be a great teammate and help out. I know he's gonna do that, so (his comment) was not an issue for me."

Tannehill is coming off his least productive season as a Titan. The 33-year-old, who joined Tennessee in 2019, passed for 3,734 yards and 21 touchdowns against 14 interceptions through 17 games last year. He also threw three interceptions in the Titans' divisional-round loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Tennessee selected Willis in the third round, No. 86 overall, ending the quarterback's lengthy slide in the 2022 NFL Draft.