Tennessee Titans - Fantasy News

Marcus Mariota 2017 Fantasy Projections

by Tom Joyce

8/13/17

NFL

Tennessee Titans

Marcus Mariota

Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota has been emerging into one of the better signal callers in the NFL in his first couple of seasons in the league.

The Oregon Ducks product appears to be a breakout fantasy candidate in 2017. Can the former Heisman Trophy winner continue to make big strides and become an upper-echelon NFL signal caller in Year 3?

Why Marcus Mariota Will Be A 2017 Fantasy Football Stud

Mariota was sharp as a rookie and even better in 2016. He completed 61.2 percent of his passes and threw 26 touchdowns and just nine interceptions in 15 games last year. It was a performance that helped him earn 17.4 Dober Fantasy Points per contest. The youngster continues to get better at his craft and should only be able to improve on his 2016 numbers.

One reason to be particularly excited for Mariota is because of the weapons the Titans added in the NFL Draft. With their fifth overall pick, they took wide receiver Corey Davis, who had 52 career touchdown receptions at Western Michigan. Two rounds later, they grabbed fellow wideout Taywan Taylor, who had 1,730 receiving yards at Western Kentucky last year. They also picked up tight end Jonnu Smith, who had over 500 receiving yards at Florida International in 2016.

Tennessee also retained its three top pass targets from last year: Delanie Walker, Tajae Sharp and Rishard Matthews. It makes the team’s receiving corps crowded, but that is a positive for a quarterback looking for open targets. With so many weapons at his disposal, expect Mariota to throw more this year than he did in his sophomore campaign.

Mariota has also shown that he is capable of gaining yards on the ground. On 60 rushes, he had 349 yards and punched in two touchdowns last season. He ran 12 more times than he did as a rookie, so perhaps he will have the opportunity to run even more as he continues to master the offense.

Why Marcus Mariota Will Be A 2017 Fantasy Football Bust

Inexperience has to be a concern for Mariota’s crew of skill players. Rookies can often have trouble adjusting to a new system. So if the three high draft picks do not play well in their first few games in the league, then Mariota’s stats will be impacted by it.

Injuries are a concern for the young quarterback as well. He is coming back from a broken leg this offseason. And in his first two NFL campaigns, he has missed four games because of ailments. As a result, his participation in OTAs was limited. It is unclear just how much that might impact his offseason preparation or if the issue will linger headed into training camp.

Ball control can be an issue for him as well since he likes to run. Last year, he fumbled nine times and lost five, which was tied for the third-most fumbles lost in the league. It is a consistent pattern, too, as he fumbled on 10 occasions his rookie year and lost six of those balls.