Reports: Ryan Tannehill 'not in the running' to start for Dolphins; Garrard the fave?

It's just July, but the pre-training-camp rumor mill is churning. And nothing's more spicy than a quarterback battle (or even a potential quarterback battle), so that makes the Dolphins a pretty interesting team right now.

And according to reports, it's David Garrard that's the clubhouse leader for Miami, with Ryan Tannehill "not in the running" to start at the moment.

Garrard's got a leg up on Tannehill and incumbent starter Matt Moore, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, and has started to "emerge as the favorite to be the starting quarterback in Miami." Brian Biggane of the Palm Beach Post adds some fuel to that fire, noting it's "hard to argue" with Garrard as the leader, but also reporting that Tannehill is "not in the running" to start at the moment.

Biggane cites Tannehill's "untimely mistakes, particularly when throwing into traffic" as the primary problem for the rookie, especially since "Joe Philbin and his staff have made it clear that turnovers will not be tolerated."

This actually jives with what Tannehill told CBSSports.com's Bryan Fischer recently, on the heels of reports he was "ahead" of the other guys based on his playbook knowledge.

"I wouldn't say I'm ahead, they're professionals and they put the time in," Tannehill said. "It definitely takes a little off my plate as far as having to learn a whole new playbook. I did know the majority of it coming in and yes there's some adjustments and things we've changed on some plays. It definitely helped minimize the amount of learning on paper that I had to do and allow me to focus on getting better and working on the timing and the details of plays."

If Tannehill's already knocked out of the competition, or at least far removed from the leaders, "Hard Knocks" could lose some serious drama, unless you're truly compelled by the Garrard vs. Moore battle. (You shouldn't be.)

But it is still just July. Moore's not out of the running, Garrard's not locked in to start and it's too early to write off Tannehill completely. Beside, if Garrard and Moore are in a battle for the starting position in Miami, it's pretty unlikely that you'll see the Dolphins come out and scorch the Earth on their schedule.

Which makes it much more likely that at some point in the 2012 season, you'll see the Dolphins give the rookie a shot to play.

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