The Las Vegas Raiders have agreed to a deal with former Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota, according to the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. The parameters of the deal have yet to be disclosed, but this has been a pairing that's been talked about for some time as Vegas was showing interest in Mariota in the days leading up to the legal tampering period.
The former No. 2 overall pick is coming off a 2019 season where he was stripped of his starting job with the Tennessee Titans in place of Ryan Tannehill. In the seven games (six starts) he did play this season, Mariota owned a 2-4 record and completed just 59.4% of his throws for 1,203 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. He also fumbled three times. What exacerbated Mariota's struggles in Tennessee this year was the almost instant success that Tannehill had as he took them all the way to the AFC championship and led the entire NFL in quarterback rating.
Despite those struggles in 2019, Mariota will still only be 26 years old by the start of the 2020 season, so there is a chance that a change of scenery could do him some good and possibly help him tap back into his potential. After all, he isn't too far removed from a 2018 season where he completed nearly 70% of his passes. Who knows, maybe he could pull a Ryan Tannehill with the Raiders and possibly snatch the starting job from current QB1 Derek Carr at some point.
It should also be highlighted that Mariota was current Raiders general manager Mike Mayock's No. 1 ranked quarterback over Jameis Winston when they were both coming into the league back in 2015. Now, it appears as Mayock will finally have the opportunity to see if he can turn Mariota into the quarterback he projected he'd become out of Oregon.
The fact that Mariota is now in-house, that would seemingly take Vegas out of the running for free agent quarterback Tom Brady, which is noteworthy.
