Marcus Mariota: Breaking Down Oregon QB's Pro Day Workout

Marcus Mariota's spot as one of the top two quarterbacks in the 2015 NFL draft is secure. What isn't certain is where last year's Heisman winner will be taken on April 30, which made his performance during Oregon's pro day on Thursday must-see television.    

As important as it was for Mariota to show scouts what they wanted to see, some of the question marks around him were impossible to answer in this setting. There's no way he can go through progressions and read a defense, for example.     

Teams have had ample opportunity to watch his game film, but in case they forgot, ESPN Stats & Info offered this reminder of what he did at Oregon:

There was no shortage of NFL personnel in Eugene, as NFL.com's Gil Brandt noted on Twitter there were close to 100 people associated with the league in attendance:

Ken Whisenhunt's presence is notable because Tennessee is in the market for a quarterback and holds the No. 2 overall pick.

Even if the Titans are just doing their due diligence, which is certainly a reasonable thought, having the head coach and general manager present could compel teams interested in Mariota to make a serious trade offer if they want to move up as the draft moves closer. 

After his workout, appearing on NFL Network, Mariota mentioned the teams he had talked with and was going to talk with:

Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times provided further comments:

Before Mariota took the field for his workout, just to get the speculation rolling, Dane Brugler of CBS Sports noted the Oregon star was getting chatty with a team searching for a quarterback:

That will only add fuel to the Jets' fire, as a lot of mock drafts, including B/R's Matt Miller, have them as the landing spot for Mariota. 

Speaking of teams that may be interested in Mariota, his former head coach Chip Kelly made headlines on Wednesday by saying Philadelphia would "never mortgage our future" to give up what it would presumably take to move up in the draft with so many other holes to fill. That didn't stop the Eagles from talking with him today. 

However, in his totally biased opinion, Oregon's current coach Mark Helfrich said this to ESPN's Michelle Steele:

Once the workout started, Mariota immediately took snaps from under the center. That was one thing he didn't do much in Oregon's fast-paced, spread-offense scheme, so teams certainly wanted to make sure he could drop back with ease, via Dan Christopherson of KOIN-TV: 

One interesting note pointed out on the NFL Network telecast is Mariota went into the huddle at times to call plays with his fellow players before lining up under center, as this photo from 750 The Game in Portland shows: 

In terms of the throws Mariota was making, it was a mixed bag for the 2014 Heisman winner. His accuracy on the deep ball outside the hash marks was erratic, missing long and underthrowing passes, as noted by Rich Cimini of ESPN New York: 

Accuracy and ball placement were the two things that stood out the most. Even if you are going to miss with some throws, which naturally happens, it shouldn't be as the result of completely missing guys. These are presumably players Mariota knows well, either current or former teammates. 

There was an element of Mariota recognizing the stage he was on and wanting to impress, which explains this analysis from ESPN's Damien Woody:

Playing quarterback in the NFL is all about making it look simple, fluid and easy. Mariota is certainly talented enough to get there, but Thursday wasn't one he will put on his tape. He looked like a player who knew what scouts wanted to see and tried so hard to give it to them. 

Brugler summed up exactly what Mariota's workout was on Twitter:

After it was over, Mariota went on NFL Network to discuss his performance and didn't sound impressed with himself, via Mary Kay Cabot of The Cleveland Plain-Dealer:

Per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, his colleague Daniel Jeremiah pointed out that Mariota looks even smarter for throwing at the combine now:

Even though this wasn't the stellar workout that Mariota wanted, it's important to keep everything in context. Teddy Bridgewater looked bad at his pro day last year, so just take the advice of Miller on Twitter:

There's going to be all sorts of media attention around a draft workout because that's all there is to talk about with six weeks before teams fill out cards to make their pick. Mariota has a vast body of work at Oregon, strong combine workout and a pro day for teams to evaluate. 

Mariota is also going to be given the chance to work one-on-one with teams in the coming weeks, so trying to make a declarative statement about where he will go after an average pro day is ludicrous. He may not have closed the gap—or widened it, depending on your opinion—with Jameis Winston, but that won't make him a bust right now.