Marcus Mariota is impressing Tennessee Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt at minicamp (Reuters). (Photo : REUTERS/Scott Olmos )
Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback and No. 2 overall pick Marcus Mariota got solid reviews for his performance at minicamp and the offseason.
Coach Ken Whisenhunt said that Mariota was pretty damn good at everything when he got to the NFL and even showed progress every day.
He anticipates that Mariota will be a heck of a player soon.
Whisenhunt said the protection aspect of the Titans offense was a big challenge and Mariota immediately got into the groove of it.
Mariota supposedly came in camp looking like he'd been doing the Titans plays for a couple years already.
He noted that Mariota is obviously for comfortable with his role as showed by the way he plays a little faster.
In Titans' nine OTAs and three minicamp practices, Mariota assumed the starter's role.
Whisenhunt added that he never saw any deficiency in Mariota's play that made him think that there's something to be worked on.
Meanwhile, Jameis Winston, the first pick in the draft, worked mainly with the second-team offense of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers although he shared first-team snaps with third-year pro Mike Glennon.
Bucs coach Lovie Smith said that he has a plan on how to field his quarterbacks and wants Winston to get certain amount of reps with both the first and second teams.
Winston admitted he still has to earn the starting quarterback job.
It is common protocol not to allow rookies to immediately start since they still don't know the system and may slow down the team.
With Glennon working with the first team most of the time, observers say that the message to Winston is that he has to earn the starting job.
Winston was said to have a healthy attitude working with the second team well by not pouting or griping. He said that he was not frustrated with Coach Lovie Smith's decision and that he is aware that he needs to earn the starting spot.
