The Tennessee Titans hold the keys to Marcus Mariota in the 2015 NFL Draft, and many theories have the team getting a franchise quarterback, whether than means Marcus Mariota or Philip Rivers. However, multiple sources have talked about a seemingly new theory on a three way trade that seems do-able for all teams involved.
Here is a deeper look at that trade.
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The teams
The Tennessee Titans are obviously the key to this whole thing since they essentially own Marcus Mariota’s future, so they are one of the teams. The other key player is the Philadelphia Eagles who are desperately trying to reunite Marcus Mariota and Chip Kelly. The final team is more of a utility, but the Cleveland Browns are the final team in this trade.
The terms
The Cleveland Browns receive:
-Sam Bradford
The Philadelphia Eagles receive:
-Marcus Mariota (2nd overall pick)
The Tennessee Titans receive:
-24 year-old All-Pro DL, Fletcher Cox
-Mychal Kendricks, ILB
-19th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft
-20th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft
FanSided
The reasoning
The rationale behind this trade is that the Cleveland Browns made a play for Sam Bradford earlier in free agency allegedly offering the same 19th overall pick. With their situation only getting more grim, they finally find that way to make a trade.
The Philadelphia Eagles desperately want Marcus Mariota, and they already made their move to grab Sam Bradford as a piece that they wanted to use in this trade. Now that they have two first round picks, they package them with a highly effective linebacker and an All-Pro 3-4 DL to make this deal worth while for the Tennessee Titans.
The Tennessee Titans have to make this deal if it come down to this. Not only do they get what they hope Leonard Williams will become, they also get a linebacker that would be a perfect fit inside of a Dick LeBeau scheme.
On top of both of those pieces, they get two sequential 1st round picks in the 2015 NFL Draft. With those picks the Tennessee Titans could add a Todd Gurley, La’el Collins, a wide receiver, or possibly a falling edge rusher like Shane Ray or Randy Gregory.
This give the Tennessee Titans the chance to take high impact picks without risk because they already found a way to add All-Pro caliber talent to the defense and can no focus on solid offensive picks or potential booms on defense.
For those curious, Mychal Kendricks was PFF’s 5th highest inside linebacker last year and would have been ranked higher than any linebacker in free agency this year. For him to be considered the second best player in this trade is amazing.
Fletcher Cox was the 5th best 3-4 DE in the league last year and the Tennessee Titans would get a chance to pair him with the 8th best DE in the league in Jurrell Casey. Imagine this retooled defense with Dick LeBeau at the helm and potentially Danny Shelton at the nose or Randy Gregory as a third edge rusher. This team could potentially find its way into the playoffs.