Titans working to learn new system with Vrabel
NASHVILLE — Another offseason, another new head coach for Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota to get to know — along with a different offense.
A little experience with such changes may help make transitions a bit easier, yet it’s not something Mariota wants to become a way of life in the NFL.
“But I think being able to have gone through that situation before, it’s helped all of us to be ready and prepared for this new stuff,” Mariota said Wednesday.
Mariota, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 draft, is preparing for his fourth season with the Titans with his third different coach. He started with Ken Whisenhunt, who lasted only seven games into Mariota’s rookie campaign. The Titans fired his replacement, Mike Mularkey, this past January despite back-toback 9-7 seasons and the franchise’s first playoff win in 14 years.
Now first-time head coach Mike Vrabel is in charge, with Matt LaFleur as his offensive coordinator and Pat O’Hara as quarterbacks coach. The Titans hired Vrabel wanting more out of both their offense and Mariota, whose fifth-year option was recently picked up, keeping him under contract through the 2019 season.
“It’s a process. It takes some time,” Mariota said. “Everybody is doing their best to learn the playbook, learn about each other. It takes time, and I think a lot of the guys would probably say the same thing. As we go through this process, if we continue to learn more about each other, we continue to communicate, all the stuff on the field will take care of itself.”
Mariota is the youngest quarterback in franchise history to lead the team to a playoff victory, thanks to an amazing 18-point comeback in a wild-card win at Kansas City, where he threw a touchdown pass to himself. He also became the fifth quarterback in NFL history with at least 9,000 passing yards (9,476) and at least 900 rushing yards (913) in his first three seasons.
But Mariota also had more interceptions (15) than touchdown passes (13) last season, though he had four touchdowns and only one interception in the playoffs, which ended for the Titans with a 35-14 loss at New England in the divisional round.
Luckily for Mariota and the Titans, the quarterback is as healthy as he has been since being drafted. His rookie year ended with a sprained knee, and he broke his right leg in the next-to-last game of his second pro season. A year ago, he wasn’t allowed on the field at this time of the offseason as he recovered.
“It’s kind of crazy to think about where I was last season at this time, and now here I am today,” Mariota said. “Being able to run out there and compete and practice with these guys, it’s night and day, and I’m just excited to be out there with the guys.”
Mariota got to work on chemistry with some of his wide receivers in March in Los Angeles. The process of learning the new playbook began April 9 with the start of the Titans’ offseason program, and a three-day voluntary minicamp — the Titans were allowed to hold it because they have a new head coach — was held Tuesday through Thursday.
This is all new for Mariota and backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who was signed in March. Learning the names of the plays is the first hurdle, and Vrabel said he knows players tend to look at a play’s name and translate to what they used to call it.
“You have to try to train them to understand the new language and the verbiage,” Vrabel said. “I think there’s also a give-and-take where, ‘OK, if everybody is familiar with that, well then we’ll make it that or we’ll call it that.’ I think that’s where you try to blend the different systems.”
Mariota isn’t tipping how different this offense might look. He’s focused on learning and making sure all of the Titans’ offensive players are on the same page.
“It’s an ongoing thing,” Mariota said. “But I love learning and doing my best to put everything that we learn out on the field.”
Caravan coming
The annual Titans Caravan’s 18-stop tour, which begins Saturday in Nashville, will include a Chattanooga visit Sunday at Academy Sports and Outdoors at 2220 Hamilton Place Blvd.
Fans will have the chance to take photos and get autographs while meeting players, cheerleaders and Titans mascot T-Rac during the onehour visit that starts at 5:30 p.m. Players scheduled to appear in Chattanooga are linebacker Jayon Brown and wide receiver Corey Davis.
Free posters will be provided to fans.