Tennessee Titans: Where does Zach Mettenberger stand?
By Brock Drury
Lately it seems that anybody involved with the Tennessee Titans have been putting up a smokescreen. You have the Adam’s family insisting that the team is not for sale, Chip Kelly, who says he won’t put the Eagles future in jeopardy by trading up for Marcus Mariota, and then there is Ken Whisenhunt who just yesterday said “If (Mariota) comes to us at No. 2, he’s definitely going to be the Day 1 starter” according to Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean.
So where does Zach Mettenberger stand at this point? Last year, Zach Mettenberger played in seven games. In those seven games he threw for 1,412 yards, 8 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, and had a completion percentage of 59.8%. If Mettenberger played the whole season he was on track for a stat line of 3,741 yards, 21 touchdowns, 18 interceptions, and a 59.7% completion percentage.
Those stats are decent for a rookie quarterback that is on a bad team and doesn’t have a great offensive line to protect him. Of course when you look at rookie stats from quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Russell Wilson they were better, but they were also on better teams. The only thing that is worrisome is a stat I did not mention, the most important stat. Mettenberger failed to win a single game.
Of course Mettenberger can’t be totally at fault for that, as the players around him have a lot to do with it. In my opinion Mettenberger’s best game was the Monday night game against Pittsburgh. He got the Titans a big lead only for the team to crumble and let the Steelers come back and win. If Mettenberger would have had a better defense and better offensive players around him in that game, there is no doubt the Titans would have pulled that game out.
Zach Mettenberger is the starting quarterback at this moment, but that could all change at the draft next month. I don’t believe the Titans will draft a quarterback. A more realistic scenario is the Titans trading for a quarterback. One rumor that has been going around has been the Chargers moving up to number two and trading Phillip Rivers to the Titans. I would not be opposed to someone like Phillip Rivers coming in because he has proven he can win. He has also worked with Ken Whisenhunt before and knows his system.
Where would that leave Zach Mettenberger though? He would most likely be Rivers’ backup and possibly takeover after Rivers’ retires. The fact is there are too many unknowns right know and after the draft next month we will get a clearer picture of the future of Zach Mettenberger.
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