Combination of Mariota's status, injury history makes him one of a kind

Marcus Mariota made it through the first two games without an injury issue, which means he is off to a better start this season than he was in the last one.

Alerts sounded Monday when the Tennessee Titans quarterback showed up on the injury report Monday due to a situation with his quad but subsided when he was listed as a full participant in practice Tuesday and Wednesday. Presumably, he will make the 58start of his NFL career in Thursday’s game at Jacksonville.

“I mean, it is what it is,” Mariota said Tuesday. “I think several of these guys have talked about it, but you’re never going to feel 100 percent once the season starts, especially on a short week. You just have to do everything in your power to get your body physically ready to go.”

More than four years into his NFL career, questions remain about – among other things – Mariota’s ability to consistently make plays from the pocket, whether he can fit his formidable athleticism into an NFL offense and whether he is a quarterback capable of leading a team to the Super Bowl.

Seemingly every question about his NFL future, however, is rooted in a singular issue, another that has yet to be answered: Can he stay healthy throughout a 16-game season? And if he does, what will that mean for his performance and the Titans’ fortunes?

Never have the answers had such significant consequences. It’s a contract year for Mariota, who has seen several teammates in the same situation (Kevin Byard, Ben Jones and Beau Brinkley) get preemptive contract extensions. Plus, for the first time, his backup, Ryan Tannehill, is a proven starter who – given the chance – could post a real challenge to Mariota’s status as the number-one.

“I’ve been dinged,” Mariota said at the start of this season. “I’ve been banged up and I understand that. But I’ve just got to do my best to be available for this team and hopefully throughout the year that’ll happen.”

Mariota, the second overall choice in the 2015 NFL Draft, is one of 16 quarterbacks selected within the top 10 picks for the 10-year period from 2007-16, an era in which traditional patience in developing quarterbacks gave way to a “play now” mentaility.

Of those 16, there are five who have never started, or have yet to start, all 16 games in a season.

Mariota is one of those five. Yet he is the only one still considered a starter at this point of his career. The others are Jamarcus Russell (first overall, 2007), who was out of the league after three years, Robert Griffin (second, 2012) who was battered by injuries in his first three years and has been a reserve since, Blaine Gabbert (10, 2011), a backup since the start of his third year, and former Titans quarterback Jake Locker (eighth, 2011), who retired after his fourth season.

Even a guy like Sam Bradford (first, 2010), who had his share of health issues in a disappointing career, started 16 games in two of his first three seasons. Andrew Luck (first, 2012), who retired last month due to health concerns, played all 16 in each of his first three seasons and four of his first seven.

“I’m just going to lay it out for my team and see what we can do, and hopefully we can win games,” Mariota said.

In 2018, Mariota did not get through the opener before he sustained his first injury. He sat out the next week, which was the only game he missed, and had to come on in relief in Week 3. In 2015 and 2017 he missed at least one game in the first half of the season. In 2016, he made it all the way until the next-to-last game before he was hurt and sidelined for Week 17.

It hasn’t been just one issue either. His litany of injuries includes a nerve in his arm (2018), a hamstring (2017), a broken leg (2016), a couple of sprained knees (2015) and other things.

Mariota added weight this offseason in an attempt to increase his durability without sacrificing speed or elusiveness. In this season’s first two games he has run eight times for 56 yards and has been sacked eight times for a loss of 67 yards. Thus far, he has absorbed every hit.

“My mentality as a competitor will never change,” Mariota said. “If it’s a card game, or it’s a preseason game, or it’s a regular season game, I just go out there to try to win. For me, that’s all I know how to do it and I’ll never change that.”

The only way he can change the impression that he is injury prone is to make it through an entire season without missing a start. Then maybe he can convince people of a few other things as well.

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