Tennessee Titans: Could Marc Mariani Become a Wes Welker for the Offense?

It's recently been said by Tennessee Titans that they plan on involving Marc Mariani in the offense way more than last season, which was no involvement at all.

Mariani has already shown off his abilities to find the smallest of seams and take it down the field for significant gains by returning kickoffs and punts last season.

Going into the 2010 NFL Draft scouts loved Mariani's reliable hands and ability to run effective routes.

He also looked good in last year's preseason, and now he just needs an opportunity.

The Titans already have some great wide receivers on the outside with Kenny Britt and Nate Washington.

The fact of the matter is Mariani brings a big-play potential of similar to what Chris Johnson brings, and there's no reason to not maximize that player's touches as much as possible.

If Mariani could become a realistic threat in the slot area, then it would open up things for everyone else on the offense, including Chris Johnson. It would force teams to not be able to stack as many guys up in the box, and respect Mariani's threat to make short receptions and turn them into big gains.

Just look at how successful the New England Patriots offense became after Wes Welker became a staple of their offense. It definitely made Tom Brady's job a lot easier.

And speaking of making job's easier, the new quarterback for the Titans will need all the help they can get whether it's Jake Locker or someone from the outside.

Now I'm not trying to draw comparisons between Mariani and Welker, because that would obviously be foolish on my part. However, the slot receivers have become a huge part of the average NFL offense, and the Titans have a guy that can potentially play that role very well.

It made no sense to me at all that former head coach Jeff Fisher never inserted Mariani into the offense for at least a couple of plays to see what he was capable of. Even when the season was lost and there was nothing to lose, Fisher failed to experiment with the talent he had.

Mariani has already been spotted working with a few other Titans players to prepare for his second season in the NFL. Locker was one of those players.

Now it seems that Munchak is poised to not make that same mistake Fisher did and give this talented kid a chance to make an impact on just more than special teams.

The Titans need all the weapons they can get for the future quarterback, and Mariani has the potential to be the biggest one of all.