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Tennessee Titans must give in to Marcus Mariota

By Kevin Parvizi

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The Tennessee Titans are clearly as high on Marcus Mariota as a quarterback as anyone, and this includes Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly, because the Titans rejected a massive trade offer from the Eagles in order to take the Heisman winner with the No. 2 overall pick.

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Mariota was undoubtedly worth taking at that spot due to his rushing ability, athleticism, vision, intelligence, ability to break down defenses, arm strength, and ball placement on sideline and deep throws. Mariota can make every throw, he takes care of the ball better than Jameis Winston does, and he’ll immediately be a big threat on the ground for the Titans.

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But the reason why Mariota went No. 2 overall behind Winston is because of schematic concerns, as there are some people out there (the Bucs were most likely one of them) who are more concerned with Mariota’s ability to transition to the NFL than they are concerned with Winston’s off-field stuff. That’s understandable, even if, as Bleacher Report’s Cian Fahey pointed out, it isn’t true once you peel back the curtain and look at his college plays that don’t depend on differences in Oregon’s scheme vs. an NFL scheme.

In any case, the Titans felt confident in Mariota’s ability to be the guy, and they are confident enough in him that they are (wisely) not making it a competition between him and Zach Mettenberger. While Mettenberger did play better than expected when thrown into the fire as a rookie, he simply doesn’t have the accuracy, decision-making chops, or athletic upside that Mariota brings to the table, and his numbers were bloated by garbage-time passes and deep attempts.

And yet, while the Titans liked Mariota enough to draft him at No. 2 instead of taking an unprecedented haul from the Eagles, unquestionably start him over a second-year QB who some like, and praise him for his traits, including his elite and somewhat previously underrated accuracy, they apparently don’t like him enough to treat him like a talented QB who was taken No. 2 overall.

We all know that the hold-up between the Tennessee Titans and Mariota lies in the fact that an organization responsible for a 2-14 season and the signing of a washed-up Hakeem Nicks (they really didn’t need a spare part at wide receiver after giving Harry Douglas a bit too much for riding Matt Ryan‘s coattails) wants offset language in Mariota’s deal.

Their whole reasoning is some BS about “precedent”, which doesn’t make any sense. As NFL.com’s Conor Orr points out, Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, and Blake Bortles all don’t have offset language in their contracts. And yes, I know that Bortles was, unlike Mariota, the first QB taken in last year’s draft, but Mariota was taken at a higher draft slot and was viewed as the better college prospect. Orr’s line “Precedents can work both ways” stands out here.

Basically, the only thing that the Titans are showing to the rest of the league is that they are petty and short-sighted. Look, if Mariota’s most glaring concern is transitioning from Oregon’s offense filled with easy reads to Ken Whisenhunt‘s expectedly vanilla scheme, then get a deal done quickly. This has been the argument stated countless of times by others looking at this situation, and it’s so obvious that it bears repeating. The value of getting him as much work as possible trumps the money lost if Mariota double-dips.

Therein lies the second problem: if the Titans are so high on Marcus Mariota as a player (after what they’ve done to this point, they should be, especially since he looks like an excellent quarterback who can elevate this team in more ways than one), then why are they so worried about losing money if he fails so badly that they have to release him? I mean, they technically never released first-round bust Jake Locker themselves; he just retired after suffering so many injuries in his brief career.

No matter how you spell it, there’s no way that the Titans are justified, and I have yet to see a well-reasoned response defending a team that has made very few correct moves. They did well this offseason by drafting Mariota and Dorial-Green Beckham, re-signing Derrick Morgan, and adding another high-end pass rusher across from him in Brian Orakpo. The Douglas and Nicks signings, among a couple of others, are representative of Webster’s scarily bullish evaluations of veteran players, but, for the most part, the Titans seem to be on the right track.

May 26, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Titans first round draft pick quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) passes during OTA drills at Saint Thomas Sports Park. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

Andrew Brandt recently tweeted “He’ll sign” when asked about the Mariota situation, and it’s obvious that will be the end result, even if there are still some Eagles conspiracy theories floating around Twitter and other portions of the web. But since Mariota should theoretically hold the leverage here despite Mettenberger’s presence behind him, I just don’t see the point in the Titans doing this.

They say they want to send a message to future high draft picks, but No. 2 overall picks at QB who won the Heisman and have franchise-defining talent are a lot different from a Luke Joeckel or even an elite edge rusher in Dante Fowler Jr. (to name a rival’s recent non-QB selections).

I hope Mariota doesn’t end up accepting a deal without offset language, because, to reiterate Orr’s pointed observation, precedents can swing the other way. I’d say that this one swings in Mariota’s favor, because it isn’t wise for an organization to suddenly take a 180 turn and show a lack of faith when finances are concerned, especially since Mariota’s talent and upside are two of the most important positives working in their favor as we head into the 2015 season. I mean, he once topped jersey sales for a reason, so it’s becoming clear that he is already the face of the Titans franchise.

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