No surprise here, but the Titans will exercise Marcus Mariota‘s fifth-year option. Titans GM Jon Robinson confirmed the news in a radio interview on Wednesday (Twitter link via Paul Kuharsky). 
“The plan is over the next couple of days to exercise Marcus Mariota’s fifth-year option,” Robinson said in a press release. “He is an important part of this team, as are a lot of players. We’re excited to have him around here for the next couple of years and hopefully after the next season we can start to figure something out to keep him around him even longer.”
Mariota, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft, is coming off of another solid season in which he conducted four game-winning drives, the most of any QB in the NFL. Mariota’s numbers weren’t great overall (his 13:15 TD/INT ratio leaves much to be desired), but many of those missteps can be forgiven in light of the injuries he played through last year. Mariota went into the offseason dealing with hamstring, leg, and ankle issues and managed to miss just one start and played through the pain in both of Tennessee’s playoff contests.
In his playoff debut, Mariota led the Titans on a remarkable second half comeback to top the Chiefs in the Wild Card round. In the next round, the Patriots largely kept Mariota in check as he completed less than 60% of his passes and threw for only two touchdowns.
The fifth-year option is guaranteed for injury only, so the Titans can escape the additional 2019 season in the event that his performance suffers for non-health reasons.