The Tennessee Titans Accidentally Hung Up on Marcus Mariota During Draft Call

The Tennessee Titans drafted Marcus Mariota second overall in the 2015 NFL draft, executing what appears to have been their original game plan from the very beginning.

NFL.com's Conor Orr published a story shortly after the Titans' selection. According to Orr, the team’s initial phone call to Mariota fell apart:

"

NFL Network's Tiffany Blackmon spoke with Mariota, who said he had no indication that the Titans would draft him. He spoke with [Tennessee head coach Ken Whisenhunt] and [general manager Ruston Webster] on the phone ... but they initially hung up on him by accident. Once connection was re-established, the Titans had their guy.

"

This can't be real, right?

This is some kind of deep-cover viral marketing ambush. Someone walked up to Mariota after the line went dead and said: "Tired of getting cut off in the middle of life's important phone calls? Switch to Blarble—world-class Internet and telephone at a fraction of the cost."

Nope. It was real. Furthermore, per The Tennessean's Jim Wyatt (h/t Orr), head coach Ken Whisenhunt says the Titans want Mariota to start the first game of the season—a tilt against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that would likely have him facing off against No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston.

Hurray storylines!

Dan is on Twitter. This would've never happened on AIM.