Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Should the Bucs pursue Marcus Mariota?

With multiple reports suggesting that the Las Vegas Raiders quarterback will cut or trade Marcus Mariota, should the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pursue him?

Marcus Mariota is one of the most expensive backup quarterbacks in the NFL, taking up more than $10 million in cap space. This price is beginning to be too steep for the Las Vegas Raiders, especially since Mariota only played in one game last year.

Mariota was one of the hottest commodities coming out of Oregon, but so far in his six-year career, he hasn’t lived up to the hype. To his credit, he did make a playoff appearance as a starter when he played for the Tennessee Titans, but the NFL is a “what have you done for me lately” league.

According to Yahoo! Sports, if the Raiders cut Mariota by June 1st, they will free up that $10+ million cap hit, and much like they did with Leonard Fournette, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could sign him on a team-friendly deal. With the cap space estimated to be lower than anticipated, don’t expect a lot of teams to go all-in on Mariota like the Raiders did a couple of years ago.

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Unless a team pursues Mariota to become their starting quarterback, expect him to receive offers that will pay less than half per year than he made in Las Vegas. As a backup quarterback, he will more than likely get offers for a one or two-year deal and will average around 2-3 million dollars per year. This is of course if he gets cut. There are several teams who may trade for Mariota.

If they don’t cut him and are seeking trades, his value will more than likely be a second or third-round pick, especially this year. The Raiders may also require a backup quarterback in return from the team that’s trading for Mariota, but backups are usually a dime a dozen.

If the Buccaneers do decide to pursue him via trade, they could trade a fourth-round pick and Blaine Gabbert to the Raiders, but this wouldn’t do much to improve the team. While Mariota is a much better backup than Gabbert, trading for him may require the Bucs to pay a higher price for him.

The best scenario for the Buccaneers to acquire Mariota would be if the Raiders cut him and they were able to pick him up for a cheap price. When the Carolina Panthers cut Cam Newton, he was picked up by the Patriots on a one-year deal worth $1.05 million. If the Buccaneers can pick up Mariota on a deal like this, it’s a no-brainer.

Tom Brady will be the starter for the next couple of years but the Bucs need to start thinking about the future. They will more than likely look to the draft for Brady’s replacement, but Mariota is proven and has quite a few years of experience. With Brady and Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich helping him along, Marcus Mariota could burst back onto the scene as a legitimate starter in the next few years.