Ryan Tannehill was unfazed by Tom Brady talk early in offseason

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Ryan Tannehill heard the Tom Brady-to-Nashville rumors. How could he not?

But the Titans quarterback kept a let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may attitude that has served him well in his seven-year career. It helped him handle his many injuries in Miami. It helped him last season when the Dolphins traded him to the Titans, where he began his time in Tennessee as Marcus Mariota‘s backup.

And it helped him when the Titans became a favorite to sign Brady.

“I really didn’t know what was going to happen,” Tannehill said on a conference call with Titans beat writers on Tuesday. “Obviously, I knew we were in negotiations and kind of working on it, but you don’t know. As a player, you don’t know if those things are real, if they’re trying to play both sides of coin or what. I just tried to stay true to the things I believed in and lean on the people I love and just try to trust the process. I knew if they wanted me back, then we were going to get it worked out, and if they wanted to sign Tom, then they probably would have signed Tom. I try not listen too much to it. Obviously, I was aware of the situation. I knew it could be happening, but I wasn’t sitting at home stressed. ‘What could happen? What could happen?’ Because at that point, it was really kind of out of my hands. I’m thankful the way it worked out. I was excited to be back. I wanted to be back. I love the guys on the team. I like the direction this program is headed off what we did last year and how I think we can build on that going into my year two with this team. Obviously, excited to be back. Yeah, I wouldn’t say it was nerve-racking day by day or anything like that.”

Mariota now is a backup in Las Vegas; Brady signed with the Buccaneers; and the Titans now are unquestionably Tannehill’s team.

Tannehill signed a four-year, $118 million deal after his 117.5 passer rating and his 9.6 average yards per attempt both led the league last season.