georgiafan
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Former top 10 pick Jake Locker retired at the end of last year and will go down as bust mostly because he couldn't stay healthy. As everyone knows that is reading this the titans passed up lots of big offers to stay put and draft star Oregon QB Marcus Mariota. In real life Mariota may not start while he transforms to a pro style offense. Since this is madden and none of that matters then he is a lock to start right? Well some insiders say that is not the case and the job is still wide open. Zach could start and be on a short leash and hope to up his trade value since the team knows it isn't going to make the playoffs.
The other person in the QB race is Zach Mettenberger a strong armed 6'5 224 pound 6th round pick out of Athens Georgia. But Zach is not your normal 6th round QB he would have got drafted much higher had he not torn a ACL at the end of his senior year and off the field concerns. He did decent enough job as a rookie with 8 TD, 7 interceptions, 1,412 yards and 60%. While we do not know his ratings yet i would project it in the mid 70's with arm power around 90.
We do know Mariota's rating and he should be more effective in madden then in real life his rookie year thanks to his 88 speed, 90 acceleration an 79 elusiveness. When you take into account how the speed ratings have went down those are even more mind blowing. For comparisons sake last years leading rusher Demarco Murray is 89 spd, 91 acc, 95 elu. While the 6'4 220 pound QB is scrambling he is also a threat to pass thanks to a 90 throw on the run rating. He is more then just a runner while we don't know his throwing power yet his short accuracy is 87 and med is 88.
Future
There is no doubt that Mariota is the future at the position and at worst is a pro bowl QB with a rating in the 90's. If your projecting into year 4 or 5 he can even become a MVP winner. His accuracy (not deep) will quickly get into the low to mid 90's and arm power should settle in below that. Could he challenge Vick as the greatest madden QB of all time?
Anytime you have a QB that runs the ball the backup spot becomes even more important. You would like for your backup to have a similar playing style as your starter. But this isn't college and you need to be more then just fast to win in the NFL and Mettenburger is a classic drop back QB and complete opposite of Mariota. The titans are in perfect spot because Mettenburger has a very cheap contract and he isn't going to be able to leave as free agent anytime soon. Now only do they want to see what Mettenburger can do if he needs to start because of injury. They also want to boost up his stock/ratings so they can trade him as there is always teams that need a tall strong armed QB. Clipboard Jesus does not factor into the long range plans.
The Star - Marcus Mariota
The unknown - Zach Mettenburger
Start packing your bags - Charlie Whitehurst
Offseason priority - None
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