Most people think the Buccaneers will take Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston with the first overall pick in the draft. But will the Titans take Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota second overall?
That’s an open question, but there’s been increasing chatter lately that if the Titans don’t take Mariota, they’ll be able to trade the second overall pick to another team that wants him. That’s what one G.M. told Jason La Canfora of CBS.
“He’s going second overall,” the unnamed G.M. said of Mariota. “I don’t know to which team, but he’s going second overall.”
One intriguing option that has surfaced recently is the possibility that Philip Rivers -- who says he plans to play out the final year of his contract this season, rather than signing an extension with the Chargers -- could be available in a trade. The Chargers say that’s not happening, but if the Titans were to offer the No. 2 overall pick for Rivers, that could make sense for both teams: It would reunite Rivers with Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt, the former Chargers offensive coordinator, and it would give the Chargers a long-term quarterback of the future, rather than a quarterback who could be gone after one more year. The Titans have more than $27 million in cap space, so they could afford Rivers’s $17 million cap hit this year and could either franchise him or sign him to an extension after that.
All of this is a long way from actually happening. But with the draft five weeks away, it’s sounding increasingly likely that Winston will go first and Mariota will go second, to the Titans or to some team that makes a trade with the Titans.