Tanney was a three-sport high school standout athlete at Lexington High School in Lexington, Illinois. He was a two time first team Illinois All-State quarterback and led his team to the IHSA state semi-finals his senior year, and he holds nearly every football passing record at LHS. He was also named an All-State basketball player and is the all-time leading point scorer in Lexington High School history. In addition to his football career, Tanney also placed at the IHSA State Track and Field Finals his junior and senior years.
College career
Tanney broke nearly every school record during his time at Monmouth. His career began in 2007 when he threw for 2,678 yards and 24 TDs. In his sophomore season in 2008, Tanney broke the Monmouth record of single season TD passes with 50. For his junior campaign, Tanney threw for 3,856 yards and 44 TDs which led him to be named the Melberger Award winner as D-III's top player. After redshirting the 2010 season with an injury, he came back in 2011 and threw for a career-high 3,867 yards along with 38 TDs. He won three Midwest Conference Offensive Player of the Year Awards in his college career along with numerous All-American Awards. In 2011 a quarterback trick shot video highlighting Tanney's talent went viral. Subsequently, in July 2011, History Channel's Stan Lee’s Superhumans filmed an episode featuring Tanney. The episode featured Tanney's "super-human" throwing accuracy. On October 29, 2011, in a game against Carroll University, Tanney set the NCAA record for all-time all-division career touchdown passes with 150, surpassing Jimmy Terwilliger's record of 148. Tanney finished his collegiate career with 157 touchdown passes and has the 2nd most passing yards in NCAA D-III history with 14,249.
Tanney signed a contract with the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent on June 5, 2012. He was placed on injured reserve with a finger injury on September 1, 2012.
Dallas Cowboys
On July 21, 2013, the Cowboys signed Tanney to their roster. On August 4, 2013, Tanney played the entire second half of the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. In five 2013 preseason games Tanney completed 40 of 73 passes for 423 yards and a touchdown, with two interceptions. Tanney was released by the Cowboys on August 30, 2013. After clearing waivers, Tanney was assigned to the Cowboys' eight-player practice squad.
Tanney was signed to the practice squad of the Tennessee Titans on December 16, 2014. He signed a futures contract with the Titans on December 29, 2014. The Titans released Tanney on September 5, 2015.
Tanney was signed to the practice squad of the Buffalo Bills on September 7, 2015. Tanney was dropped from the practice squad a day later, after the team re-signed Matt Cassel.
Tanney signed to the practice squad of the Indianapolis Colts on September 29, 2015. He was released on October 20, 2015. Tanney re-signed to the practice squad on November 10, 2015.
Tennessee Titans (second stint)
On December 21, 2015, Tanney was signed off the Colts practice squad by the Tennessee Titans. He made his NFL regular-season debut on January 3, 2016 against the Indianapolis Colts, relieving the injured Zach Mettenberger in the third quarter and going 10-for-14 for 99 yards and throwing his first career touchdown pass, to Dorial Green-Beckham. On September 13, 2016, he was waived by the Titans and was re-signed to their practice squad the next day. On December 27, 2016, he was promoted to the active roster. On September 2, 2017, Tanney was placed on injured reserve. On April 30, 2018, Tanney was released by the Titans.
On May 2, 2018, Tanney signed with the New York Giants. Tanney was named on the Giants’ 53-man roster on September 1, 2018 as the primary backup to Eli Manning. On March 4, 2019, Tanney signed a two-year contract extension with the Giants. He was released on October 10, 2019, but re-signed the next day. Tanney was placed on the active/non-football illness list by the Giants at the start of training camp on July 28, 2020.
