2015 NFL Draft: What if the Tennessee Titans took a QB
By Will Lomas
With the 2015 NFL draft now just single-digit days away, it is time to start running the scenarios of what would happen if the Tennessee Titans drafted certain players. This is part of a series of posts I will do in the following week to play out different 2015 NFL Draft possibilities.
These scenarios do not include any trades, and assumes that the Tennessee Titans make no additional moves in free agency.
Today I ask what happens if the Tennessee Titans take a quarterback with their top pick?
The Need
Jim Wyatt will tell you that the public perception of the quarterback position isn’t as bad as people think. According to his twitter account, Jim Wyatt says that in a quick poll Tennessee fans voted that they approved of starting Zach Mettenberger at the beginning of the 2015 season with a tally of 204 “yes” votes to 72 “no” votes.
While public perception doesn’t shape front office thinking, the Tennessee Titans coaches won’t be fighting off a riot if they don’t draft Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston.
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The player:
While there are reports coming out saying that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may be less sold on Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston than most think, it is a fair bet to say that he will go first overall. That means that the Tennessee Titans would be drafting the only other franchise caliber quarterback in this draft, Oregon’s Marcus Mariota.
Marcus Mariota has a lot of strengths that will work in this offense. While he played in a “system offense” in Oregon, he can read defenses very well. His intelligence shows up on film consistently, and he RARELY makes mistakes.
In addition to his ability to read the field, he also has a very underrated arm. One of his biggest perceived issues is that he doesn’t have enough arm strength to do everything you want, but that just seems like lazy scouting to me. If you watch him, he actually has a very nice deep ball, the issue is that he never has to use it. When something is wide open, you don’t have to throw a perfect pass to the deep guy, you take what the defense gives you. That, by the way, is the core concept of what Ken Whisenhunt taught Philip Rivers in San Diego.
Of course, everyone already knows he is an amazing athlete. While Ken Whisenhunt isn’t known for using running quarterbacks, the Tennessee Titans most impressive win last season came against the Kansas City Chiefs with Jake Locker under center. He also had the Cleveland Browns beat until he was taken out after a cheap shot.
If Ken Whisenhunt can use Marcus Mariota (which he should be able to considering he was hired to work with Jake Locker) then this team could be better in two or three years. Now, if they aren’t better immediately then Ken Whisenhunt may not be there to see that future, which is why these talks about Philip Rivers make so much sense.
Rest of the draft
So now that the Tennessee Titans have their quarterback, what does that mean for the rest of the draft? Well, the team still has a gaping hole at right tackle so expect that to be dealt with over the next two rounds.
Also, with a quarterback in place and an offensive line that should have plenty of young talent, maybe it is time for the Tennessee Titans to add more weapons to the arsenal. Grabbing Melvin Gordon (or if for some reason Todd Gurley fell this far) could be a really nice move to give the team the ability to take some pressure off of the quarterback.
Of course wide receiver is a need, but the team and players like what it sees in Jacoby Ford. Harry Douglas also has a guy campaigning for him on the staff in Mike Mularkey, so if those two can step up the Tennessee Titans may be able to take a value pick later in the draft.