Advertisement

Marcus Mariota has already made one big impact on Titans: Relevance

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

When is the last time you really thought or cared about the Tennessee Titans, other than in passing?

Even if you're a hardcore football nut, the Titans have been boring for a while. The only time you'd choose to watch the Titans is if you're a fan of the team or they have their annual "Thursday Night Football" appearance that everyone dreads. Unless you're in a really big league or have some affinity for Kendall Wright, you haven't owned any of their players on your fantasy team in a while either. They haven't been in a playoff game since the end of the 2008 season.

Regaining some NFL relevancy wasn't why the Tennessee Titans drafted quarterback Marcus Mariota, but it doesn't hurt either.

[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football is back: Sign up for a league today!]

The Titans could have drafted defensive lineman Leonard Williams or made that big mega-trade with the Philadelphia Eagles that was rumored, but neither option would have created the buzz Mariota has already generated. Mariota found himself on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week.

The last time the Titans were on the cover of Sports Illustrated was with Chris Johnson and the magazine using him as an example of the devaluation of running backs.

Ticket sales are way up and Mariota jerseys "are selling like iPhones," the Tennessean's Jim Wyatt wrote. Last year Wyatt said the most popular jerseys were quarterback Jake Locker, who retired after a few disappointing seasons, and receiver Justin Hunter, another draft disappointment. That says something about the state of the Titans pre-Mariota.

Billboards are already up around Nashville promoting the Titans' new quarterback.

You get the sense Titans fans wish the season started tonight.

"No doubt there's been a definite jolt in enthusiasm in the fan base; everyone is so excited," Stuart Spears, chief revenue officer for the Titans, told the Tennessean. "The quarterback is always such a high-profile position on a football team, and to have someone the caliber of Marcus Mariota join the organization, it can't help but create that kind of energy."

It's not just within Nashville. NFL fans don't know yet if Mariota can be a star in the pros, but that's part of what makes him so interesting. He was a fantastic college player, winning a Heisman Trophy at Oregon. But the offense the Ducks used isn't like what he'll run in the pros, although there are reports the Titans will incorporate some of Oregon's spread concepts to ease his transition. No matter the offense, Mariota is big, can throw the ball and is an elite athlete, which adds to the intrigue.

No NFL team is really lacking in attention, because the entire NFL is always in the spotlight. The first round of the NFL draft on ESPN and NFL Network drew almost two times as many viewers as Game 7 of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers-San Antonio Spurs series, and that was considered an all-time first-round NBA series vs. a pretty mundane draft. But to the extent any NFL team can fall off the map, the Titans did.

They're back now, and will stay relevant as long as Mariota is.

- - - - - - -

Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!