NFL draft: Titans pick Mariota with No. 2 overall selection

TERESA M. WALKER

AP Pro Football Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Titans hope they got it right this time with Oregon’s Marcus Mariota, their third try at landing a franchise quarterback in the past decade.

The Titans selected the Heisman Trophy winner No. 2 overall pick Thursday night after starting three quarterbacks last season, benching Jake Locker in October and replacing him with rookie Zach Mettenberger. But he lost his six starts, and the Titans couldn’t afford to pass up Mariota with Charlie Whitehurst the only veteran quarterback on the roster.

General manager Ruston Webster said other teams offered “multiple” picks to move up to the No. 2 spot, though the Titans refused to budge, believing they drafted the quarterback that can turn around a team that went 2-14 in 2014.

“It was going to be difficult to convince us to back out,” Webster said. “We had conversations with different teams, but nothing to the point of us not picking Marcus.”

Mariota could start the season opener Sept. 13 at Tampa Bay against the top pick, Jameis Winston. Neither was at the NFL draft in Chicago on Thursday — Mariota, from Hawaii was in Honolulu with nearly 300 family and friends; Winston was in his hometown of Bessemer, Alabama.

Coach Ken Whisenhunt has said a quarterback picked second overall would be expected to start the season. And the coach known for working with pocket passers like Ben Roethlisberger and Kurt Warner even says they started mixing in some spread plays into their offense weeks ago in anticipation of drafting Mariota.

“There are going to be some things he’s had success with in college we’ll incorporate in what we do,” Whisenhunt said. “I don’t think it’s going to be that challenging. I’m excited about doing that. … We’ll see how it grows, what he can handle and how he can progress.

Mariota certainly has the size at 6-foot-4 and 219 pounds and plenty of success in college. He said he developed a close relationship with Whisenhunt and Webster in all their meetings leading up the draft as the Titans scrutinized the quarterback closely, and Mariota also said he’s ready for whatever Whisenhunt asks him to do.

“I believe in my abilities and the hard work that I’ve put in and that’s one thing, is that I can’t control other people’s opinions,” Mariota said. “I’ve just got to do what I can do and that’s putting in the hard work and getting ready for the next chapter. People are always going to have their opinions and say what they want to say, I’m just excited to get it rolling and start this new chapter.”

The quarterback position has been a revolving door at Tennessee.

The Titans drafted Vince Young at No. 3 overall in 2006 and Locker at No. 8 in 2011, and Young was the last quarterback to lead this team in yards passing in consecutive seasons, and that was 2006 and 2007. They have started eight different quarterbacks since trading away Steve McNair to Baltimore in 2006.

Tennessee needs an infusion of offense after ranking 29th in the NFL last season averaging 303.7 yards per game in Whisenhunt’s first year. The Titans ranked 22nd with 213.3 yards passing per game, and Mariota was the humble leader of Oregon’s high-flying offense for three seasons.

Mariota’s ability to create plays with his arm and his legs took the Ducks to the brink of a national championship before falling short to Ohio State, finishing the season 13-2.

Along the way Mariota won every major award he qualified for, starting with the Heisman, as well as AP Player of the Year, the Maxwell and Walter Camp awards and Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year.

Mariota set a conference record for most touchdowns in a single season with 58; 42 via pass, 15 on the run and a touchdown catch. His passing touchdowns set a Pac-12 single-season record. He also set the conference’s career mark for career touchdowns with 136.

He threw at least one touchdown pass in all 41 college games he played in at Oregon, starting every one of his appearances. And he’s one of just four quarterbacks in FBS history to pass for more than 10,000 yards and run for more than 2,000 in his career.

Mariota was known for his steady demeanor from the start. Off the field, he was shy and unassuming, but he stayed on the field following every game to shake hands and pose for pictures.

A three-star recruit for the Ducks out of St. Louis High School in Honolulu, Mariota is fiercely proud of his island roots: His helmet facemask was designed to include the numbers 8-0-8 in a nod to the state’s area code.

Mariota has already attracted several sponsors including Nike — co-founder Phil Knight is an Oregon alum — and more recently Subway and Beats By Dre.

Top 2 picks prove importance of QBs

BARRY WILNER, AP Pro Football Writer

CHICAGO (AP) — You don’t pass up a potential franchise quarterback.

Not in today’s pass-happy NFL.

So Jameis Winston is headed to Tampa Bay as the first overall selection and Marcus Mariota goes to Tennessee at No. 2. They’ll take their Heisman Trophies (Winston in 2013, Mariota last year) and try to turn two downtrodden franchises into contenders, maybe even champions.

Neither was in Chicago, choosing to watch — and celebrate — at home with their families.

It was the sixth time since 1967 that quarterbacks went 1-2, and this was no surprise. The biggest question was whether Florida State’s Winston had too much off-field baggage for the Bucs. Obviously not.

His college coach, Jimbo Fisher, has no doubts either.

“There are always bumps in the road,” Fisher said. “But as far as on the field, he’ll learn. He has an unbelievable ability to learn and learn fast.

“Off the field he’s an extremely great guy. People will be shocked with how he represents (the Bucs).”

That’s a high priority, Winston said.

“It’s a family town. And great men like Derrick Brooks and coach Lovie Smith and people like Mike Alstott make that town the way it is, and that’s part of the football community. I look forward to getting involved in the football community and even the Tampa Bay community itself. I was blessed to have those men in my life before this process started.”

Some questioned Mariota having barely taken any snaps behind center in Oregon’s quick-tempo attack, but Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt, who has done big things with such veteran quarterbacks as Ben Roethlisberger, Kurt Warner and Philip Rivers, clearly isn’t concerned.

“He’s a talented young man who has a very good feel for the position and how to process those things,” Whisenhunt said, “and we’re excited to get a chance to work with him.”

Naturally, Mariota isn’t worried about the doubters, either.

“I believe in my abilities and the hard work that I’ve put in,” he said. “And that’s one thing is that I can’t control other people’s opinions. I’ve just got to do what I can do and that’s putting in the hard work and getting ready for the next chapter. People are always going to have their opinions and say what they want to say.”

Winston and Mariota, who each had a year of eligibility remaining, will meet in the season opener in Tampa Bay.

The next two picks also were underclassmen. Linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. of Florida headed upstate a bit to Jacksonville, then Oakland grabbed Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper.

The first senior taken was Iowa tackle Brandon Scherff by Washington in the fifth spot, a bit of a surprise.

Tampa has the receivers to help Winston in Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans, both of whom went over 1,000 yards last year despite shoddy quarterbacking. Tennessee can’t make the same claim.

Each of those teams went 2-14 in 2014, but coaches Smith and Whisenhunt, in their first seasons in charge, survived the awful record. Now, they presumably have the main building tool.

After Scherff, the Jets, normally heavily cheered when the draft was held in New York — it’s in Chicago for the first time in 51 years — were loudly booed when they went on the clock. And when they went for Southern Cal DT Leonard Williams, rated by some as the best overall player in this crop, the jeers increased exponentially.

Why? Because the Bears were next up and need a dynamic player at the position.

Still, the local team was cheered as if Jay Cutler had just thrown for a TD when it grabbed West Virginia’s game-breaking receiver, Kevin White. After trading top wideout Brandon Marshall to the Jets, the Bears had a big void there.

Dan Quinn, the Falcons’ new coach after he helped build Seattle’s dynamic defense, got a nice tool in Clemson linebacker Vic Beasley. The Giants selected Miami offensive tackle Ereck Flowers and St. Louis finished off the top 10, in which there were no trades, by taking Georgia running back Todd Gurley, who comes off a major knee injury.

The pick drew some reactions of disbelief from the crowd of 2,800 in the theater and 50,000 outside in what the league calls Draft Town. No RBs went in the first round of the past two drafts.

“He’s special, yeah he is,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. “When his career is over, he’ll be a great pick.”

Minnesota took the first defensive back, Michigan State’s Trae Waynes, and then the proceedings got a big lift.

Well, it was actually Roger Goodell who got the lift when 339-pound DT Danny Shelton of Washington bear-hugged him and elevated the commissioner about a foot off the ground.

Shelton, dressed in Samoan garb, was chosen by Cleveland, then the Saints got Stanford OT Andrus Peat and the Dolphins bolstered their receiving group with Louisville’s DeVante Parker.

Finally, a trade was made, with San Diego moving up two spots to 15 to get another running back, Wisconsin’s record-setting Melvin Gordon. San Francisco got the Chargers’ first-rounder, a fourth-rounder and next year’s fifth-rounder.

From Winston until Marcus Peters went to Kansas City at No. 18, no players with major behavioral issues in college were chosen. The cornerback was dismissed from the Washington Huskies last year after several arguments with coaches.

“He’s got to keep his emotions in check and I think he’ll do that,” coach Andy Reid said. “He’s not a troublemaker off the field, that’s not what he is. He’s not a problem in the locker room, that’s not what he is. Just those competitive juices, you have to know how to control those.”