Soon-to-be former Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota is reportedly drawing interest from the Las Vegas Raiders.
The report comes from NFL Network’s Mike Garafalo, who says Mariota is “in the mix for sure” when it comes to the Raiders’ search for a quarterback this offseason.
As Garafalo points out, the Raiders’ current general manager, Mike Mayock, was a fan of Mariota’s coming out of college back when he was an analyst.
The Titans ended up taking Mariota with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.
When trying to find a new team as a free agent, Mariota is going to be looking for the best chance to start in 2020, which means targeting teams that have a vulnerability at quarterback.
The Raiders qualify as one of those teams, as current starter, Derek Carr, is likely to be on a short leash in 2020 if he makes it through the offseason without being moved.
Mariota lost his job to Ryan Tannehill after being benched during the Week 6 loss to the Denver Broncos last season. Tannehill was officially named the starter in Week 7, and Mariota spent the rest of the season as the backup.
From there, Tannehill went 7-3 in the last 10 games of the regular season to take the Titans from 2-4 to the playoffs. Tennessee’s season ended after an improbable run to the AFC Championship Game.
While Mariota seems down and out now, a change of scenery could do him a lot of good, and joining a new team might help revive his career, much like Tannehill was able to do with Tennessee.
The legal tampering period beings on March 16, but players cannot officially start signing contracts until March 18.
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