Tennessee trades for Ryan Tannehill, and it’s an understandable move. Marcus Mariota hasn’t progressed enough, so they might need another quarterback at some point.
Mariota has been in the league for four years, and remarkably his numbers have gotten worse every year. The Titans have passed for fewer yards every year, and his average fantasy points per game have declined every year.
I’m not sure why Mariota has regressed. They were able to get decent production out of him his first two years. Get him in the right offense with the right people around him, and he can be a functional mid-level quarterback.
But Mariota doesn’t look like he’s ever going to be a big-time guy. He doesn’t seem to have the accuracy and decision-making ability.
I was writing up my first draft of the Tennessee story yesterday. As part of that, I spent 15 minutes re-watching Mariota in the Rose Bowl game his final year – when he went head-to-head against Jameis Winston. While Oregon won that game, Mariota didn’t look like a big-time, franchise quarterback. Most of his throws didn’t involve any timing, patterns or accuracy. He was just catching the ball and immediately throwing it out to a wide receiver in the flat. There were a handful of missed throws where he wasn’t accurate, missing wide-open guys. And 3 passes, I think, where he was either intercepted or should have been intercepted.
If you watch Mariota in college and then watch Kyler Murray, Murray looks like the much better, more developed passer.
Mariota is entering the final year of his rookie contract. They’re paying him almost $21 million this year. Will he play well enough to merit a new contract for 2020 and beyond? I’m not sure that he will. And with that being the case, makes sense to have Tannehill around as probably a better backup than Blaine Gabbert. If they decide to let Mariota got a year down the road, Tannehill could be their bridge quarterback for the next guy coming in.
I typically like to throw out a fun fact on these, and for these guys I’ll focus on pass protection. Both Mariota and Tannehill have a tendency to lock up and get caught holding the ball. They need to be better at throwing away the ball when things break down.
So with Mariota and Tannehill, the Titans now are the owners of the only two quarterbacks last year who were sacked on more than 11 percent of their pass plays. That’s among the 32 who started at least half the time.
| SACK PERCENTAGES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Sack | Pct |
| Andrew Luck, Ind. | 639 | 18 | 2.7% |
| Drew Brees, N.O. | 489 | 17 | 3.4% |
| Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 675 | 24 | 3.4% |
| Tom Brady, N.E. | 570 | 21 | 3.6% |
| Joe Flacco, Balt. | 379 | 16 | 4.1% |
| Patrick Mahomes, K.C. | 580 | 26 | 4.3% |
| Baker Mayfield, Clev. | 486 | 25 | 4.9% |
| Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 434 | 24 | 5.2% |
| Andy Dalton, Cin. | 365 | 21 | 5.4% |
| Case Keenum, Den. | 586 | 34 | 5.5% |
| Jared Goff, LAR | 561 | 33 | 5.6% |
| Cam Newton, Car. | 471 | 29 | 5.8% |
| Nick Mullens, S.F. | 274 | 17 | 5.8% |
| Philip Rivers, LAC | 508 | 32 | 5.9% |
| Kirk Cousins, Min. | 606 | 40 | 6.2% |
| Alex Smith, Wash. | 328 | 22 | 6.3% |
| Matt Ryan, Atl. | 608 | 42 | 6.5% |
| Jameis Winston, T.B. | 378 | 27 | 6.7% |
| Matthew Stafford, Det. | 555 | 40 | 6.7% |
| Sam Darnold, NYJ | 414 | 30 | 6.8% |
| Blake Bortles, Jac. | 403 | 31 | 7.1% |
| Carson Wentz, Phil. | 401 | 31 | 7.2% |
| Eli Manning, NYG | 576 | 47 | 7.5% |
| Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 597 | 49 | 7.6% |
| Josh Allen, Buff. | 320 | 28 | 8.0% |
| Derek Carr, Oak. | 553 | 51 | 8.4% |
| Dak Prescott, Dall. | 526 | 56 | 9.6% |
| Josh Rosen, Ariz. | 393 | 45 | 10.3% |
| Russell Wilson, Sea. | 427 | 51 | 10.7% |
| Deshaun Watson, Hou. | 505 | 62 | 10.9% |
| Marcus Mariota, Ten. | 331 | 42 | 11.3% |
| Ryan Tannehill, Mia. | 274 | 35 | 11.3% |
—Ian Allan