Fomer Bucs GM: I’d take Marcus Mariota over Jameis Winston
By CM Towle
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik thinks the Bucs should take Marcus Mariota over Jameis Winston in the NFL draft.
For the Buccaneers, the clock for the draft is ticking right now and the debate is on as to who the team should grab as the number one overall pick. The big focus is more than likely to be on the hole at the quarterback position and it just so happens that there are two Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks in this year’s draft. The Bucs are obviously in the best position to draft either Jameis Winston out of Florida State or Marcus Mariota out of Oregon.
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Former Bucs GM Mark Dominik has been analyzing the quarterbacks like everyone else and he believes that Mariota would be his pick. Dominik told Tampa Bay Times Rick Stroud that he doesn’t think the two quarterbacks have radically different talent levels. That speaks to the fact that Dominik must have some intangibles that he thinks one possesses over the other. Possibly related to off-field actions.
"NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah ranks Winston as the sixth-best prospect in this year’s draft, while Mariota is five spots behind him. Both are widely considered to be the top two quarterbacks available this year, with a steep drop-off to the next few players at the position. (via NFL.com)"
The main technical concern with Mariota over Winston, is that Winston is considered to be coming out of a more pro-style offense and therefore is more likely to be ready for the NFL than Mariota. That makes Dominik’s comments all the more interesting in that he doesn’t think there’s much of a talent gap between the two. That may be true in terms of their raw skills, but you could easily argue that Winston has more applicable training than Mariota considering the systems they both come out of.
Mariota is coming out of a shotgun-based spread offense where he put up incredible numbers, but most scouts are concerned that his success won’t translate easily to the pros.
As for Winston, the bigger concern with him is the off-field issues, which might be where Dominik was getting his opinion. There’s no doubt that he’s going to be put through the wringer in terms of investigation and interviews about his mentality and off-field choices.
Conversely, Mariota has none of those issues and the concern for teams will rest solely on his game and whether it will translate to the NFL.
The current Bucs GM is Jason Licht and he’s undoubtedly under major pressure to find a solution to the team’s quarterback hole.
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