Marcus Mariota suffers another injury, and his durability should be major concern for Titans
At some point, when the Tennessee Titans are considering a long-term extension for Marcus Mariota, they’ll have to ask themselves if their quarterback can get through a full season without getting hurt.
The story of Mariota’s career, if there is a tale to be told yet, is injuries. Each season he has missed time with various ailments. He missed time earlier this season with an elbow problem.
It shouldn’t have been a huge surprise then when Mariota exited Saturday’s game against the Washington Redskins before halftime with yet another injury. Blaine Gabbert finished the first half, and started the second half in a huge game for the Titans’ playoff chances. The Titans announced Mariota had suffered a stinger.
Marcus Mariota needed medical attention before halftime
Mariota was driving the Titans, who were trailing Josh Johnson and the Washington Redskins 10-6, when he was sacked. His right elbow slammed to the ground and the ball popped loose. The play was dead and there was no fumble, but the next sight we got was Mariota heading to the locker room with a trainer.
Gabbert came into the game to end the half, the drive unsurprisingly stalled and the Titans got a field goal as the first half expired.
The hit was a hard one, and some of Mariota’s injuries have come on hits that would have put many quarterbacks out of action for a while. But the long injury history is concerning.
Mariota has been inconsistent in NFL
Mariota, the second pick of the 2015 draft, has missed time in each of his four NFL seasons. When he has played, he has been inconsistent. Before Sunday, over the last two seasons Mariota had 24 touchdowns and 23 interceptions in 28 games.
It was already going to be hard enough for the Titans to figure out what to do with Mariota. NFL teams don’t give up on quarterbacks with Mariota’s draft pedigree, age and level of production (as tepid as that might be). Yet, it’s also hard to believe they’d feel great investing a huge contract into him.
The injuries don’t help that decision. And with Mariota, there are always injuries.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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