Titans Must Draft Marcus Mariota, Forget About Trading Down

The Tennessee Titans need to look past the forest for the trees. The golden rule of the NFL draft is: If you don't have a franchise quarterback, but one becomes available to you, draft him.

The Titans, with only sixth-round pick Zach Mettenberger in the fold, definitely qualify as a team without a franchise quarterback. Thus, they simply need to take the plunge and draft Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota.

Whisenhunt, Webster and Ownership

Despite the stoic facade Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt projects, nothing can mask the fact this is one of the most tumultuous franchises in the NFL. General manager Ruston Webster and Whisenhunt were basically given a pass from acting owner Tommy Smith near the end of last season, but Smith has now taken his delusions of grandeur and retired to focus on his ownership group's other products. 

This has led to a full-fledged power vacuum. Rumors have continually pointed to the Titans being sold. And you know things are wacky when we get talk of Jimmy Haslem taking over.

But, the real thing to take away from this? The NFL is a business where the head coaches and general managers create "types." Whisenhunt, for instance, has a known type: tall, strong-armed, inaccurate and immobile pocket quarterbacks. Think John Skelton, Ryan Lindley and Matt Leinart. 

Mettenberger fits cleanly into that group, which explains why we'd seen plenty of talk about Mettenberger remaining the starter next season.

But here's a better question: If nobody believes in Whisenhunt, how much power will he actually have once ownership changes hands? Why should we believe he'll survive the power vacuum lingering over the Titans now? Is it his inspiring 20 wins over his last four years of coaching? Is it his horrendous game management that contributed to the Browns coming back from a 28-3 deficit last season?

In Mariota, the Titans have a quarterback with the raw physical tools Webster clearly craves. Not that Webster has a case to stick over Whisenhunt, but he'd be wise to look past his head coach's archetype here and stick with his own. 

NFL front offices have their share of politics, and should Mariota turn out, it's going to be hard to fire the general manager who drafted a star quarterback last season. Tennessee needs only to look up at divisional rival Indianapolis, where general manager Ryan Grigson has been able to absorb a lot of criticism because he drafted Andrew Luck.

Should the Titans draft Mariota and watch him go full Blake Bortles—well, they've essentially risked nothing on it. They're not holding back a potential starter anywhere on the roster. They're not sabotaging a potential playoff team. 

There are no Andrew Lucks in an average draft

Marcus Mariota is not Andrew Luck. Because nobody is. 

Every quarterback selection is a roll of the dice. Robert Griffin was the second-best quarterback prospect I've seen in college, and thus far his career has flopped. Luck has turned out to be excellent, but even he has not touched Peyton Manning's efficiency yet. 

To let that wisdom trap you and keep you from drafting a quarterback is to essentially give up any chance at the biggest difference-maker a team can have: a true star quarterback. 

I believe Mariota has the most upside of any passer in this class. Higher than Jameis Winston, and higher than Brett Hundley. It takes a lot of projection out of his system in Oregon, and should probably lead to a team meeting him halfway with his college offense while they try to develop his NFL concepts. 

He could also be an utter failure. He could play so fish-out-of-water in an actual NFL offense that it's unfathomable, much like Bortles did in 2014. 

I tend to see Mariota as a boom-bust pick. A player that will either dominate the league for years, or fall off the radar after his rookie contract and be unheard of after that. 

But if any situation calls for a player like that, it's this mess in Tennessee. Even with the defensive improvements, the roster is horrendous. Both the head coach and general manager are closing in on needing a Hail Mary to save their jobs. New ownership is a factor that threatens to change the entire dynamic of the situation.

Would it worry me to have a quarterback be developed by people who might not have a tomorrow? Sure. But this situation envelops the entire organization. USC defensive tackle Leonard Williams, Nebraska edge-rusher Randy Gregory...wherever this organization goes, no matter how many draft picks they pick up, they're all being developed by people who may not have a future in the organization. 

The Titans might as well bank on the one player who, if everything goes right, can lift the entire franchise out of the doldrums. 

All DYAR and DVOA numbers cited are courtesy of Football Outsiders. Learn more about DVOA here.

 

Rivers McCown is an NFL Analyst for Bleacher Report and the co-host of the Three-Cone Drill podcast. His work has also appeared on Football Outsiders and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter at @riversmccown.