One of the most quickly forgotten players of the 2019 season was Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota. He had a rough start for the Titans, leading them to a 2-4 record in their first six games, and was then benched for Ryan Tannehill, who led the team to a 7-3 record down the stretch, a playoff appearance and playoff wins in New England and Baltimore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Titans no longer have any interest in the Marcus Mariota business, which means he\u2019ll be a free agent in just a couple of weeks\u2019 time. BetOnline has posted some NFL odds on the board that show that wherever he lands, he\u2019s not likely to be a starter in Week 1 of 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The latest news on Mariota that we have is that the Las Vegas Raiders are interested in kicking the tires with Mariota. The Raiders still have Derek Carr as their starter but reports from inside the organization feel that Carr can only take the team so far. He\u2019s a decent quarterback when everything around him is great but he doesn\u2019t exactly elevate the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s unclear what the Raiders feel Mariota would offer but maybe someone like Jon Gruden, a quarterback guru, feels like he can get more out of Mariota than what we\u2019ve seen so far. We saw what a change in scenery did for Tannehill; maybe a change for Mariota could spark a change in his production. He\u2019s never been outright bad under center and he did have the 2016 season where he had 26 touchdowns and just nine interceptions. Maybe Las Vegas sees him as an upgrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another rumor that we\u2019ve seen making the rounds is Mariota to the Chicago Bears. Of course, the Bears continue to tell everyone that Mitchell Trubisky will be their starting quarterback in 2020 but given his implosion last season, that\u2019s hard to believe. They\u2019ll be adding some kind of veteran player who can come in and start \u2013 should he need to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s interesting about a Mariota-Bears marriage is that Mariota might start in Week 1, if that\u2019s the case. Chicago has a fairly complete team and just needs someone who can avoid the crippling mistakes that Trubisky is known for. Mariota has been criticized plenty but one thing he doesn\u2019t do is turn it over a lot. He has just 10 interceptions over his last 21 games. He also isn\u2019t as scared to throw it down the field as he has averaged 7.5 yards-per-attempt in his career, which is almost a full yard more than Trubisky, who is at 6.7 for his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mariota has a very similar skillset to Trubisky, which might make him a bit of a plug-and-play situation here for the Bears. If you do think he ends up in Chicago, there\u2019s some value here betting on Mariota to be a starter in Week 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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