Tennessee Titans: Marcus Mariota must improve in order to keep his job

The Tennessee Titans need more out of Marcus Mariota. If he cannot take them to the next level, they need to find a quarterback who can.

The Tennessee Titans are stuck in mediocrity. They are a solid football team with legitimate talent on both sides of the ball, but they are not any sort of threat to the top teams in the AFC. Their 9-7 record in each of the last three seasons speaks for itself.

There is a lot to like about the Titans’ roster. They have built an elite secondary, a talented defensive front seven, a rock-solid offensive line and a group of offensive playmakers that can get the job done. General manager Jon Robinson and his staff have done an impressive job of building this roster through the draft, continually hitting on many picks in the three years that Robinson has been in Tennessee.

Unfortunately, the talent on the field has not led to much success. While he is not the only problem, I attribute their lack of success primarily to the mediocre play of quarterback Marcus Mariota.

Now, I want to be clear, the Titans have not been a bad team in recent years. They have been competitive in the AFC South, I just think there is enough talent on this roster to do more. Similarly, Mariota has been decent, but he simply leaves plenty to be desired.

Mariota entered the league as a top-notch quarterback prospect who shined in college with both his arm and legs. The Titans made him their franchise quarterback when they took him with the second overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.

He was good as a rookie and had his best year as a second-year player in 2016. However, since then, Mariota’s overall production has been mediocre. In 2017, he completed 62 percent of his passes for 3,232 yards, 13 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Last season, he completed 68.9 percent of his passes for 2,528 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Mariota has become an extremely conservative passer who cannot push the ball down the field with any sort of consistency. Simply put, he has not been able to lead the Titans’ offense to much success in recent years.

The Tennessee Titans have too much talent on the roster to continue to be stuck in mediocrity. I am not saying that Mariota is the only problem, but he has not been part of the solution.

With guys like Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, Jake Fromm and Jacob Eason expected to be at the top of the quarterback class in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Titans should have an opportunity make this move next offseason if they wish. There will certainly be some risk involved with any rookie quarterback. There can also be significant upside.

Will they be happy with mediocrity with Mariota under center or will they take the plunge and try to get the most out of this talented team? It will not be an easy decision to make, but unless Maritoa shows significant improvement in 2019, he should not be the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Titans going forward.