Raiders Interested In Marcus Mariota

It looks the Raiders’ quarterback search has taken a turn. Instead of mounting a full-force pursuit for Tom Brady, the Raiders are now likelier to add a backup type to compete with Derek Carr, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com reports (via NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal, on Twitter), adding that Marcus Mariota is a Raider target.

The Raiders have been linked to Brady for several weeks, but not much has emerged on that front for a while. And the Titans appear to have moved ahead of the AFC West teams in their run at Brady. Their former first-round pick has options elsewhere.

The Raiders, Patriots and Colts have been connected to Mariota, and Garafolo points out the former Heisman Trophy winner was then-NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock‘s top-rated quarterback in 2015 (Twitter link).

Jon Gruden has sought a potential upgrade on Carr for a while now, and while Mariota does not profile as such, this is nonetheless an interesting development. The Raiders would be able to preserve more of their cap space with a Mariota addition than they would if they were to authorize a $30MM-plus-AAV deal for Brady. Las Vegas is interested in high-priced cornerbacks Byron Jones and Chris Harris.

Both Mariota and Carr peaked in 2016, with the former throwing 26 touchdown passes and the latter finishing third in the MVP voting that season. On Christmas Eve 2016, both players suffered broken legs. Mariota has fallen further than Carr since, totaling just 24 TD tosses in 29 games from 2017-18 and being benched for Ryan Tannehill midway through what became a Titans AFC championship game run last season. Carr finished 2019 with the best QBR (63.7, 10th in the league) of his career, doing so after the Raiders’ offense lost would-be No. 1 wide receiver Antonio Brown just before the season.

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