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Marcus Mariota Strongly Linked to the Cleveland Browns

By Jared Mueller

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The Cleveland Browns have no clue who might be starting for them next year. Could it be Marcus Mariota? Brian Hoyer is a free agent, Johnny Manziel is in rehab and Connor Shaw showed he is limited physically in his one start. It is so bad that many Browns fans just got upset at how Shaw was described. The NFL Draft is, almost, universally described as having two quarterbacks and nothing after that (Brett Hundley would like to object but he tripped over his feet trying to throw out his objection).

Marcus Mariota is joined by Jameis Winston as the only two quarterbacks that many think are worthy of consideration. Matt “Mr. NFL Draft Scout” Miller described it as such:

Strong statement, and having read Miller a ton he isn’t just talking about a year 1 starter, he means a starter ever. Given that the Browns seem to have very limited options at the quarterback position, that most important one. Hoyer likely leads the pack of free agent quarterbacks, although Ryan Mallett might deserve some consideration, and Mike Glennon (likely) and Nick Foles (unlikely) are the best via the trade market.

That leads us back to Marcus Mariota. We have long told you that Mariota was a favorite of Ray Farmer, and had he come out last year Johnny Manziel would likely not be a Brown. We have also given the opinion that Mariota, if given time to develop (sitting a year), will be a great starting QB in the NFL.

Today we have another added connection between the Heisman Trophy winner and the Browns. This morning Albert Breer gave us a series of tweets related to the Browns and Mariota that we want to share with you:

NFL.com also picked up on Mariota to the Browns but notes the concerns many have about Mariota:

"“From a physical trait perspective, he has everything you want,” Mayock said of Mariota. “He’s big, he’s athletic, he’s got great feet and he’s got a live arm. So on the surface, the individual components all work. The problem is he’s a projection coming to the next level because of the pocket awareness, the progressions and the reads.”If the Browns are even toying with the idea of choosing a quarterback atop the draft, it tells us plenty about where Farmer and Co. stand with Manziel, who checked himself into treatment last month after an increasingly rocky rookie season."

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Marcus Mariota’s process will be an interesting one. We noted before (New Window) that we believe Mariota will fall in this draft, based on the past as well as whispers coming out already. While many point to the Browns needing to trade up into the Top 5, even Top 2, to get him, it is more likely that they have to worry about the New York Jets at 6 or the St. Louis Rams at 10 the most. We will cover a Mock Draft later that has Mariota falling to #12.

Mariota may not be Andrew Luck, but who is. Fans either want a sure thing, like Luck, in the first round or want the Browns to wait and draft a developmental guy in later rounds. Scarcity, as well as Mariota’s base talent level, makes that a poor choice. We won’t advocate for trading both first rounders to move up for Mariota but a realistic trade to jump up a few spots, say to #9, makes a lot of sense.

What do you think of the ties connecting Marcus Mariota to the Browns?

Next: Why Marcus Mariota is MY Pick for the Browns

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