Greg Cosell’s NFL analysis: The Titans’ long-term plan with Mariota
The Tennessee Titans’ draft was fascinating to me.
They had a conviction in quarterback Marcus Mariota, and took him with the second pick. I won’t knock them for that, and for the most part I like Mariota. But the rest of their draft showed they want to play a certain way that you don’t necessarily think of when you think of Mariota.
Mariota comes from a spread shotgun offense at Oregon. There has been a lot of talk of how coach Ken Whisenhunt and his staff will incorporate some spread concepts for Mariota, and they likely will, but they don’t appear to be trying to build a spread-based offense over the long haul. Two of the Titans’ picks tell us that.
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With the second pick of the third round, Tennessee chose 335-pound guard Jeremiah Poutasi out of Utah. He could end up at right tackle or guard in the NFL, but he’s big and physical way more than he’s athletic. He’s not the type of player you picture fitting with a spread zone-based team. It was a sign the Titans want a power-running offense.
Their second of two fourth-round picks left little doubt about that. They took 254-pound fullback Jalston Fowler out of Alabama. That was an interesting pick, and I don’t think it’s a bad idea. If you draft a fullback — and this was a pretty valuable fourth-round pick they used on a fullback — you’re going to line up with two backs at times. Sure, they’ll go three-wide at times and do some things Mariota did in college, but they want to be a power-running team in which the quarterback lines up under center with two backs behind him. Also running back David Cobb, the team’s fifth-round pick out of Minnesota, is more of a gap scheme runner (power, counter). This wasn’t a draft to build an offense to cater to Mariota; Mariota will have to transition to what the Titans run.
In my opinion that’s the right approach. At some point you need to teach Mariota to be an NFL pocket quarterback if you want sustained success. Scheme supremacy works in college, but it doesn’t always work in the NFL. At some point you’re going to have to be an NFL quarterback. And Mariota can do that. He showed some good signs of being a progression reader as a passer, although that wasn’t a foundation of Oregon’s passing game, and threw with consistent velocity and accuracy, especially at the intermediate levels. There are some things he’ll have to prove he can do, like passing from a muddied pocket, making tight-window throws and anticipation throws, but he has a good skill set.
Mariota will do some things we saw him do at Oregon, especially early on as he makes a challenging transition to the NFL. But the Titans are going to stick with what they want to be, which is a conventional power-running NFL offense. Their draft told us that’s what they want to do. Mariota will have to adjust and learn to fit that, and become a traditional NFL pocket quarterback. In the long run, that’s the best way to go.
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NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.
