Ryan Tannehill's Comment About Refusing to Mentor Malik Wills Draw the Unholy Wrath of Kurt Warner

As Matt Fitzgerald mentioned yesterday, when Ryan Tannehill said he's prepared to do to his rookie replacement Malik Willis what Brett Favre did to Aaron Rodgers (and Rodgers promptly did to anyone who's been brought into Green Bay to replace him) and pretty much ignore the rookie:

... it was not the best look. You can sort of understand it, just on a human level. But it's just not often done in the football business. 

Not publicly, anyway. There was always a dynamic of bad body language from Tom Brady toward Jimmy Garoppolo in Jimmy G's three-plus seasons in New England. It was an open secret that Joe Montana felt threatened by Steve Young. With good reason, as it turned out. But by and large, when you're the Cock of the QB Walk in your own stadium, you don't sweat some backup being brought in. I don't recall Peyton Manning in Denver ever acting all pissy after they used a second on Brock Osweiler. At least he talked a good game about it. 

So for Tannehill - still just 33 years old - to flat out refuse to be the Batman to Willis' Robin is a bold move. And naturally, it's he's gotten dragged for it in some circles. A couple of current Jets players, for example:

But the vitriol that will hurt the most comes from Kurt Warner. Hall of Famer. Super Bowl MVP. Broadcaster. Moral conscious of football. Arbiter of all that is good and righteous in this wicked world. 

Warner is mad as H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks and he is not about to sit this debate out:

If I'm Tannehill, I do NOT want this bad juju on me. Warner is an A-list celebrity in the Kingdom of Heaven, and that's a Naughty List I can't afford to have my name on. I'm immediately walking back my answer. Claiming my comments were taken out of context or I was misquoted or something. I'd be on Instagram this morning with Willis like we're Kevin Costner and his ghostdad, having a catch. When you're on the wrong side of Kurt Warner, you're on the wrong side of goodness. And you're just asking for bad karma to come along in the form of unblocked pass rushers or unseen defensive backs, the Almighty exacting retribution upon you. 

It's a simple rule, but a profound one. You don't incur the wrath of a man who got his own Christian-themed biopic starring the guy from Shazam.

And if I'm Willis, I'm already DMing Warner asking where and how soon we can begin the mentoring sessions. If it's going to be awkward in the QB room anyway, you might as well lean into it and go for Cringe Level: Maximum. Besides, with Kurt Warner on your side, no man can stand against you. Amen to that.