Tennessee Titans stay put, draft quarterback Marcus Mariota second overall
Of all the crazy scenarios that seemed to be in play for Marcus Mariota and the second pick of the NFL draft, the craziest seemed to be that nothing outlandish would happen.
After all that speculation, the second pick stayed put with the Tennessee Titans.
And for all the talk of where Mariota would land, and the endless rumors about the Philadelphia Eagles selling off the entire franchise to get him, he ended up going with the second pick, right behind Jameis Winston.
The Titans now have a star to build around, something the team sorely lacked. They also lack talent on the roster, so Mariota is going into a tough situation, especially with the big learning curve he faces. The Titans were 2-14 last season. And the Titans will be second-guessed for what they didn’t do with the pick. They drafted Zach Mettenberger last year in the sixth round, and he had a promising rookie season. They could have traded the pick for a lot of pieces or drafted someone like USC defensive end Leonard Williams and tried to see if Mettenberger would develop. They took the Mariota route instead. It was just too hard to pass up the chance to draft a potential franchise quarterback.
[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football is back: Sign up for a league today!]
There were rumors for months about where Mariota might land. The Eagles were the most popular rumor due to Chip Kelly’s ties with Mariota dating back to the University of Oregon. The Cleveland Browns were said to have offered two first-round picks to move up to No. 2 to get Mariota. Other teams like the San Diego Chargers were said to be interested in moving up to get Mariota. ESPN reported just before the draft started that the Chicago Bears made a late push to trade for the second selection.
The Eagles were rumored to offer multiple picks and multiple starting-caliber players to the Titans to move up to No. 2 right before the pick. Eagles fans didn’t hide their desire before the draft:
In the end, the pairing of Kelly and Mariota wasn’t meant to be.
Mariota is an interesting NFL projection. He comes from a spread offense at Oregon that really doesn’t resemble what he’ll be doing in the NFL. He has a strong arm, is a great athlete and was incredibly productive in college. Those attributes placed him high on draft boards.
And he’s going to the team that few expected him to land with, the team that held the second pick all along.
– – – – – – –
Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
