The Tennessee Titans are fully building their offense around Marcus Mariota.
New offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur made clear that the Titan offense going forward will be built entirely around Mariota, and the quarterback himself will be encouraged to dictate what he does and does not want to do within it.
“Our communication is going to be absolutely critical to all of our success here,” LaFleur said, via Cameron Wolfe of ESPN. “I reiterated with him the importance of — if there’s something you don’t feel comfortable doing, I want you tell me. I know it’s kind of against his nature because he’s such a good person. I just don’t want him to hold back on anything.
“We’re going to try to tailor our offense to our player’s ability.”
LaFleur comes to the Titans from the same position with the Los Angeles Rams, where he noted that another young quarterback, Jared Goff, quickly grew into the role that he wants Mariota to take up.
“He had no reservations, he’d tell us exactly what he liked and he didn’t like,” LaFleur said of Goff.
Mariota’s development — or lack thereof — was cited as a reason for the eventual firing of former coach Mike Mularkey. It sounds like the team’s new staff has been told in no uncertain terms that Mariota is the franchise, and it’s down to them to tailor an offense that gets the best out of him.
