The quarterback competition is already over in Tennessee, but the development of Marcus Mariota has just begun.
The early reviews are positive, with wideout Harry Douglas gushing over the No. 2 overall pick's "unbelievable accuracy," while Titans receivers coach Shawn Jefferson recently called Mariota "deadly accurate." The praise continued Friday from the team's leading pass-catcher from a year ago.
"You could tell he was training this offseason, really in the playbook," said tight end Delanie Walker when asked about the rookie by NFL Media's Tiffany Blackmon. "He called the huddle with poise, said the plays like he knew them, ran the offense very well. That's exciting to see when you've got a young quarterback coming in and ready to go."
Mariota's comfort in coach Ken Whisenhunt's scheme showed on Friday, as the former Oregon star completed 13 of 18 passes in seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 work without an interception. Kuharsky notes Mariota also employed hard counts to coax the defense into a pair of offside penalties and unfurled a "beautiful" 40-yard spiral in stride to Justin Hunter.
By comparison, last year's training camp in Cleveland was littered with reports of Johnny Manziel struggling to even grasp the basics of the Browns' playbook. It's too early to carve any of these early reviews into stone, but the Mariota experiment is off to a solid start for a team desperately in need of some excitement.
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