Mariota: Being Benched 'Isn't Going to End My Career'

Titans' starting quarterback since 2015 says he plans to 'learn and grow' in what is a new role for him

For those wondering, Marcus Mariota did not sound like a broken man.

He sounded like a broken record.

The now-former starting quarterback for the Tennessee Titans met the media for just a little more than three minutes Wednesday. During that brief session, he repeatedly stressed that he planned to “learn” and “grow” from his demotion, that he would be a “good” or “the best teammate” possible and that he would support his replacement, Ryan Tannehill, and the rest of his teammates unconditionally.

In other words, he said all the right things at a time when so much in his professional life has gone so wrong. Six weeks into the season he is on pace for a career-low in completion percentage (59.1) and a career-high in sacks (a league-high 25), although the latter number is not likely to rise much in his new role. His team is 2-4 and in last place in the AFC South and he directed an offense that was shut out in the first half of three of the last four games.

Now he is a backup beginning with Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Nissan Stadium. Coach Mike Vrabel informed his quarterbacks of the decision Tuesday, two days after he pulled Mariota late in the third quarter of a 16-0 loss to the Denver Broncos.

“It is going to be different,” Mariota conceded. “I haven’t really been in this role for a long time – literally, at all – in my career. I’m going to do everything I can to help Ryan and help this team.”

And it all has taken place in a contract year.

The second overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft is in the option year of his rookie pact, which pays him $20.922 million this season but has him set for free agency next March. Chances that the Titans re-sign him are now slim (at best) and whether any team would be willing to pay him as a starter in unclear. He has a losing record in the role (29-32), has guided the team to the playoffs just once and has dealt with a litany of injuries that have created questions about his durability. In fact, his health issues have brought an early end to his season three times in four years, including 2018 when he was unavailable for a win-and-in game with Indianapolis in Week 17 (the Titans lost).

“My expectation always was to be the best player that I can be for this team,” he said. “I, to the day that I die, believe that I gave all that I got. No matter what, I can learn and grow from this situation.

“This isn’t going to bring me down. This isn’t going to end my career. This is an opportunity for me to grow, and I’m going to make the most of it.”

Mariota entered the NFL with much hype and expectation as the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner out of Oregon. The excitement grew when he completed 13 of 15 passes for 209 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions (a perfect 158.3 passer rating) in his NFL debut. That same year he became the only player in NFL history to pass for at least 250 yards and three touchdowns and rush for at least 100 yards in the same game (vs. Jacksonville, Dec. 6, 2015).

Two injuries caused him to miss four games in 2015 and the Titans changed coaches seven games into that season, both of which set the stage for what has followed. Vrabel is now the third head coach Mariota has had in four-plus seasons. Those three (Ken Whisenhunt and Mike Mularkey were the first two) have employed four different offensive coordinators, the latest of whom is Arthur Smith, currently in his first year in that position.

“You have to look at the body of work and really just try to evaluate how we want to function, the passes that we need to complete, the operation of getting the entire offense to function, score points, move the field, convert third downs,” Vrabel said. “I’m very confident – after having talked to Marcus and having watched him prepare already (Wednesday) – that, if called upon at some point in time, we expect him to be ready to go.

“It’s not an easy thing for any player. I would say it’s not an easy thing for a coach … to make that decision. But we felt like this was the right thing for the team right now.”

What comes next – for Mariota and for the Titans – remains to be seen, although Mariota made perfectly clear what he plans to do.

“For me, as a player, I’m going to take it and run with it and learn,” Mariota said. “No matter what, it’s tough. It’s a tough pill to swallow. But, for me as an athlete, I can learn and grow from it.”