NFL teams are reportedly more interested in Marcus Mariota than it would appear.
You’ve probably read about how Marcus Mariota is taking a tumble in the eyes of NFL front offices and scouts. How his pro day was bad; how they’re worried he’s not a leader; how Jameis Winston is now the consensus number one pick.
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Well, it may be time to forget what you’ve heard. According to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, many of the teams at the top of the draft like Mariota much more than they are willing to let on, and may be hoping to bring about a situation in which Mariota falls far enough for them to draft him.
“Lot of people like Mariota a lot more than what you are seeing in the media,” a high-ranking official from a team picking high in the draft told La Canfora. “I don’t see him getting beyond the top five, for sure and I suspect he ends up second overall.”
It’s not clear whether that means the Titans will be interested in drafting Mariota, or whether teams will want to trade up to the second pick to get him. The Titans have not expressed much interest in the Heisman Trophy winner, and he hasn’t been linked to them much. That seems odd; the team just lost Jake Locker, and didn’t sign any of the major free agent quarterbacks (not that there were many to choose from). While Zach Mettenberger is nice as a backup/young project, does the team really think they can succeed with him as their long-term solution?
In any case, Mariota backlash has been high lately. When the offseason started it was considered a toss-up between Mariota and Jameis Winston for the top pick; now Winston has been all but cemented as the top pick, while Mariota has been picked apart endlessly and is sliding in many mock drafts. It seems odd that Winston isn’t the one sliding, with all his character concerns.
We see it every year; the time between the college football season ending and the NFL draft in May is long enough that opinions can change drastically in between, despite none of the players in question actually playing any football. We saw it last year with Teddy Bridgewater; he went into the offseason as the probably number one pick; he ended up being picked 32 after having a bad pro day, among other things. Now he looks like the best quarterback to come out of last year’s class; Blake Bortles is promising but questionable, and Johnny Manziel has just looked like a mess.
The point is, the best judge of a quarterback’s potential is what you see on the field, not what he shows in practices or drills. If NFL teams adhere to that, Mariota may indeed be the second overall pick.
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