Wisenhunt wants Rivers? SD wants Mariota? & other trade rumors

There will be trades: 5 teams poised to draft Marcus Mariota at No. 2

By Jason LaCanfora

March 19, 2015

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jason-la-canfora/25114210/there-will-be-trades-5-nfl-teams-poised-to-draft-marcus-mariota-at-no-2

As teams transition from free-agency mode and begin focusing more organizational means on the upcoming NFL Draft. That’s because the veterans have been picked through and weeded out, and by and large, most teams will wait until June to sign guys to prove-it contracts that don’t count against the league’s equation for compensatory picks.

And the more the draft comes into play and the more quarterback-needy teams study the available talent, the more I become convinced that Marcus Mariota is going second overall. I remain in the camp that says this isn’t a Tampa smokescreen – the Bucs brass is increasingly sold on Jameis Winston with the first-overall pick – and while Mariota’s Pro Day was far from convincing and several teams still harbor doubts about how pro-ready he is, the old rules of supply and demand will apply.

It’s a two quarterback draft and a good quarter of the league is at least uncertain about its present and/or future at this position. Mariota has more than enough supporters among NFL coaches and decisions makers to end up going with the second pick, whether to the Titans, who the pick, or another team via trade.

Some who know Tennessee coach Ken Whisenhunt well figure in the end, barring him being blown out of the water with a trade offer, he goes ahead and drafts the kid. “If there are three or four teams trying to trade up for him, then there’s going to be a lot of pressure on Ken to take him if they keep the pick,” as one source put it.

Even if Mariota has some questions in terms of meshing with the Titans offense and even if he’s not the prototypical fit for Whisenhunt’s scheme, fear of passing on a possible quarterback may force the team’s hand. This even after the organization swung and missed big time on Jake Locker (albeit before Whisenhunt’s arrival), which is why there are several NFL execs who believe this plays out like the 2012 draft, with quarterbacks going first and second overall.

Consider me a bit of skeptic, not that Winston and Mariota go first and second, but that Mariota goes to the Titans. That is the worst roster in the NFL in my estimation, there are holes all over the place, and Whisenhunt is sufficiently intrigued that he has a diamond in the rough in Zach Mettenberger. So in the end, the trade interest just might be enough to sway the Titans to trade out of the pick and load up on a bunch of assets, and maybe even land a veteran quarterback who can help them in the present in the process.

Winston, Mariota will likely go in the first two picks of the draft. Winston, Mariota will likely go in the first two picks of the draft. (USATSI)

Mariota is already on the NFL circuit, working out for teams, going to dinners with owners, being grilled by coaches. And he will shine in these circumstances. He is a tremendous kid with impeccable character and he is immediately impressive simply by being himself. He’s not a phony and there is no Eddie Haskell going on here. He’s a quarterback who seems almost too good to be true in terms of all the intangibles you could ever desire. His stock will only continue to rise in the highest reaches of organizations, even if concerns about his start-a-bility from Day 1 linger.

Teams that like him will continue to find reasons to like him as the draft approaches. And with none other than Chip Kelly – offensive genius, quarterback-guru, roster-building iconoclast – his former coach at Oregon, showering the kid in compliments and exultations (which he will continue to do before the national media at the NFL owner’s meetings next week I’m sure), and several teams at least intrigued by the prospect of trading up for him, I can definitely see someone going all-in to land him. Perhaps even sooner rather than later.

So, who would make sense to at least mull over trading a few commodities to cash in on Mariota at second overall, a player of fixed costs the next five years – only $5 million a year –and who won’t embarrass the franchise or find the big stage un-manageable? Well, plenty of teams besides just the Titans sitting at second overall.

Washington would have to consider him at fifth overall, and the Jets, from what I’m hearing, would far prefer to trade out of the sixth pick rather than take a quarterback there, but the reality is someone else will have likely already taken both passers off the board well before they pick. So they aren’t moving up as best I can tell. And the Bears at seventh could make a case for it as well, but being locked into Jay Cutler for another $32 million, man, you risk him going totally off the ledge if you draft his replacement now. But others just might dive in so let’s take a look.

5 teams that could be in on Mariota

St. Louis Rams: Picking 10th overall would require them making a move, but they should keep an open mind. Would Nick Foles do anything for Whisenhunt? Getting out from Sam Bradford’s contract was huge, in an of itself, but Foles and Mariota would give them insurance and an interesting coupling to perhaps take to Los Angeles in 2016. This team is a stable quarterback away from making a power move, they have pulled off huge draft-day trades before (RGIII deal with Washington; moving up for Tavon Austin) and they thought long and hard above moving into the back end of the first round for Johnny Manziel a year ago.

Cleveland Browns: They are picking No. 12 and clearly needy for a quarterback and a stable citizen at the helm. Josh McCown is a great caretaker but he’s not the future. And Johnny Manziel had about as much of a lost rookie season as one could imagine. His future is already in doubt. The Browns have been peddling their 19th overall pick for Bradford – in both St. Louis and now Philadelphia – and owner Jimmy Haslam has been very intrigued by Mariota for quite some time. And make no mistake, his fingerprints were all over the Manziel selection. You can’t rule the Browns out by any stretch here, with the draft picks and willingness to do it. Haslam likes splash moves.

New Orleans Saints: Picking 13th overall, and 31st overall, and with Drew Brees in what could be his last season in New Orleans and with Sean Payton remaking the team on the fly and making some shocking moves already (the Jimmy Graham trade, for one), getting a quarterback who looks like a tremendous scheme fit at a cheap price might be just want he needs.

Payton has accumulated a bunch of picks already this offseason – he has two third-round picks as well, for instance – and even dealing a few to move up for Mariota would leave him with a decent haul to address other positions. Throw in the fact he’s shown a willingness to shop pretty much anyone on his roster, and the fact that maybe, gulp, someone out there wants to get their hands on Brees, you have to look at New Orleans as a team positioned to continue making bold moves ahead of the draft and during it.

San Diego Chargers: Picking 17th overall, and with franchise quarterback Philip Rivers not interested in a contract extension this offseason (his deal expires after the 2015 season) and the team perhaps willing to move him in the right deal, Mariota would make a lot of sense. It could be they don’t even have to add a pick along with Rivers, and maybe they get something back even. Who knows? Whisenhunt knows Rivers well and worked with him in the past and loves him. Rivers, a Southern boy still at heart, might find raising his brood in Nashville right up his alley if LA isn’t his thing. The Chargers could be moving to LA as well, and having a bright young quarterback who played college ball in the Pac-12 makes sense to say nothing of the cap and cash savings they would gain by moving Rivers. Hard to think of Rivers not under center in San Diego, but crazier things have happened already this offseason.

Philadelphia Eagles: Picking 20th overall would require a significant move, but perhaps Bradford interests the Titans, or someone else. Kelly could always convert Bradford into another first-round pick that could then help sweeten the pot to go get Mariota. Despite his statements about not mortgaging the future to get Mariota, Kelly will do whatever he feels he has to do, whenever he wants to do it, and consequences and public opinion be damned. He believes strongly in Mariota and if there is a trade he believes makes sense I don’t see anything stopping him from doing it (certainly not his own home-spun rhetoric from a press conference).

Of course, having potentially all of this competition in the trade market won’t help, and his own high opinion of Kelly might work against him, but I don’t buy for a second he wouldn’t consider flipping Bradford, coming off successive ACL tears, in a deal to get Mariota. Hell, I’m kind of pumped for the prospects of a rare-three team deal in which Kelly ends up with yet another Duck.

Final thoughts

Seems to me there’s at least ample potential for something to get done. And with all of that swirling around the next six weeks, I have a hard time seeing Mariota doing something that results in him not going in the top two. Maybe he has weak workouts for teams, I suppose. But even then I’ve spoken to enough veteran evaluators who like the kid and could see a quarterback-needy team moving up even it is possibly over-drafting him not to consider it a highly viable option.

It could even be that it comes together well before the draft. The Rams and Redskins pulled off the RGIII deal on March 9, and with all 32 teams having their contingents in Arizona this weekend through Wednesday for the annual NFL spring meeting, there will be no shortage of interaction and communication between parties. If the desire for moving up for Mariota is as robust as I expect, it might be wise for someone to secure that pick sooner rather than later. In what has already become the Year of the Trade in the NFL, there just might be a blockbuster or two still to come, and not just with Adrian Peterson in mind.