With the NFL scouting combine in full swing, all eyes are on Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston as several teams remain interested in the quarterbacks. One of the two Heisman trophy winners will be selected with the No. 1 overall draft pick while the other will be target for trades at the No. 2 pick. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have already hinted at interest in Winston, which leaves Mariota the target for the remaining teams.
The former Oregon quarterback said all of the right things in front of the media when he took the podium at the combine. He stressed that he believes he can start immediately and make an impact for any team that drafts him. Mariota has been training in the offseason with his quarterback coach Kevin O'Connell who was just hired by the Cleveland Browns for the same position. Naturally everyone wanted to know if Mariota would like to reunite with coach at the next level.
"All the situations, you kind of play in your head,'' Mariota said, via Cleveland.com. "It's totally out of our control. We won't know until draft day. That would an awesome opportunity. I'd love to play for the Browns. For right now, you can't really control those things, so I try not to worry about them.''
The Browns drafted Johnny Manziel in the first round of last year, but have made it clear they would not hesitate to draft another quarterback in 2015 if they felt he could be the player of the future. Armed with two first-round draft picks, a trade up for Mariota is certainly on the table as general manager Ray Farmer stressed that the Browns were not positive their franchise quarterback was currently on the roster.
"All options are on the table for the Browns,'' Farmer said. "There's nothing that we don't look at. There's no circumstances that we haven't tried to put together a framework for what's the right thing to do and what those costs are. We've done a cost-benefit analysis as to what it's going to take to make any sort of move in free agency or the draft.''
Mariota could also potentially reunite with former Oregon head coach Chip Kelly as the Philadelphia Eagles are also thinking of a trade up to grab the quarterback with interest high on Nick Foles. As of now, every draft expert believes Winston to Tampa Bay is a done deal which leaves Mariota a prime target at No. 2 including a trade.
