With the dust settling on the trade involving Sam Bradford and Nick Foles, all eyes officially shift to Marcus Mariota in the NFL Draft. It looks to be all-but guaranteed that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will select Jameis Winston No. 1 overall, leaving the former Oregon quarterback to be the interest of several teams. With the Eagles settling their quarterback rotation, who will land Mariota in April?
According to ESPN's John Clayton, the Washington Redskins could be the winner of the Mariota sweepstakes. The team makes their first draft pick at No. 5 and many believed they had turned away from Mariota, opting to name Robert Griffin III the starting quarterback for 2015. However, the Redskins appear to be changing their tune as Mariota looks more available than ever.
Many NFL sources believed the Philadelphia Eagles were preparing to sell the farm in order to acquire Mariota. Instead they did that to get Bradford, sending Foles and a fourth-round draft pick to the St. Louis Rams while giving up second-round draft pick in 2016. After the high-priced trade, Bradford is the assumed starting quarterback with Mark Sanchez as his backup. The idea that Chip Kelly would give up even more to get Mariota seems unrealistic.
The Cleveland Browns could also be out of the Marcus Mariota sweepstakes. The team signed Josh McCown to a multi-year contract while expressing their faith in Johnny Manziel's future. The team does have two first-round picks and could surprise some by moving up for Mariota, but right now it appears that idea is on hold.
That leaves the Redskins and the Jets as the two main suitors for Mariota. The Jets are finalizing a trade for Ryan Fitzpatrick. They could still draft Mariota, but the Redskins select one ahead of them and could beat them out for the quarterback. Now the Redskins could easily be putting up a smokescreen regarding their interest in the soon-to-be rookie. Head coach Jay Gruden has already made it clear that Griffin is the starting quarterback, but Mariota could easily be the future if a contract is denied for the quarterback.
One thing is clear, there is no interest in a trade for Kirk Cousins at the moment. Currently hoping to get a starting job either in Washington or elsewhere, Redskins V.P. of football operations Bruce Allen told 106.7 The Fan in DC that so far no one is interested in Cousins and the quarterback will likely stay put.
"Well, the trade deadline starts also at 4:00," Allen said, "so we have not received any calls on that. We'll see what plays out. There was a lot of speculation a year ago, and that really never came to fruition. And I can't speak for other teams on him."
The Redskins must decide if Griffin is the future or not. If there is lingering doubt in the quarterback, drafting Mariota is a wise move. If Gruden feels Cousins is the best fit moving forward, then the Jets could take advantage.
