5 potential landing spots for Marcus Mariota in 2020

1. Los Angeles Chargers

Mariota’s first head coach, who only lasted seven games into his rookie season, was Ken Whisehunt. Whisenhunt went back to the Chargers as offensive coordinator in 2016, and he remains in that post.

In five games started under Whisenhunt in 2015, Mariota completed nearly 64 percent of his passes with a 93.2 passer rating with multiple passing touchdowns three times. The completion rate and passer rating are slightly above his career numbers in those categories, for whatever that’s worth now.

Philip Rivers has been incredibly durable, with the longest active consecutive starts streak in the NFL as he has not missed a start since taking over in 2006. But the Chargers have a long-running iffy backup situation behind a quarterback that is nearly 38 years old, and who is playing behind a struggling offensive line right now. It’s possible Mariota has a Chargers-based advocate in Whisenhunt, and it’s worth wondering if they would consider making a trade offer for Mariota with less than two weeks to go before the deadline.

Looking more realistically to next March, Mariota may find a comfortable landing spot as a backup with the Chargers. Apart from the past tie to Whisenhunt, they should have some level of interest.