Maurice Jones-Drew Sees Bust Potential in Marcus Mariota
Do you think 2015 NFL Draft prospect Marcus Mariota is going to be a bust?
Former Jacksonville Jaguars star running back Maurice Jones-Drew seems to think so these days. Jones-Drew actually pointed back to Blaine Gabbert of all people when talking about Mariota. He doesn’t seem to think that Mariota will be able to make the necessary adjustments to the NFL.
Jones-Drew was with the Jaguars back in 2011 when Gabbert was drafted as a first-rounder from Missouri to the team. Gabbert ran a spread offense at Mizzou like Mariota did in his time at Oregon. Jones-Drew doesn’t believe that the system he ran in college makes him a fit for the pro game.
He told Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman, “Some first-rounders will end up in horrible situations. Some scouts will say that a player fits a system when he clearly doesn’t. Mariota is a good example of that.”It wasn’t that Blaine was bad. It was that he was uncomfortable,” Jones-Drew said.
“You don’t take Mark Zuckerberg and have him run a construction company. Blaine never adapted to the complicated pro offenses. The thing with Mariota is that it will take a long time for him to adjust to the NFL. It will take years. He will have to go to the absolute perfect place. It won’t take [Jameis] Winston as long.”
Okay, he has a point about Winston but aren’t the comparisons to Blaine Gabbert a bit harsh?
But on the other hand, Mariota had to practice taking snaps from center before NFL Scouting Combine. He ran the same system in high school so he’s not even used to calling plays in the huddle, nevermind the complex NFL verbiage. Mind you, this is a potential franchise-quarterback-to-be we’re talking about.
No one questions Mariota’s work ethic but that’s an awful lot to learn and how many coaches have that kind of time? Jones-Drew has a point but to me, the answer is he should go to a team that’s fully committed to their coach. You don’t want to compound the problem by making him learn a new playbook right after he just learned how to call plays in the huddle.