Combine Notes: Titans Don’t Commit To Mettenberger

Based off today’s comments from the Bucs’ brass, it certainly seems possible that Marcus Mariota will still be on the board after Tampa makes its pick. But will he get past the Titans at 2?

Some believe that Tennessee will pass on a quarterback since they have Zach Mettenberger in the fold. But both general manager Ruston Webster and head coach Ken Whisenhunt made it sound like that is far from a certainty.

Webster says he has spoken to Mettenberger multiple times this offseason, believing that the right approach is to “shoot him straight”, but said he was not able to give him a commitment that he’d be the starting quarterback moving forward.

“I don’t think that we’re in a position to commit to anything,” he said. “We like the player. We like Zach. But I’m not ready to commit to anything, including who we’re going to pick at Number Two.”

Whisenhunt offered an interesting response when asked about identifying a quarterback to build your offense around.

“That’s the thing in the NFL now is having one of those guys,” he said. “Trying to get one of those quarterbacks that can make a difference like that. Everybody is working to do that, and we’re in a position this year where we get an opportunity to get that position settled for us.”

That “opportunity”, seemingly, could come by drafting one of the top-two signal-callers.

“We’ve already talked about going back through the season and evaluating that from start to finish and where [Mettenberger] finished up, and then comparing that with what we see out of these young guys in the draft. I think that’s a piece of it. Zach did a lot of good things for us we felt like last year. But with the way the year went last year and where we are in the draft and with the guys coming out, you have to put your time in and figure that out.”

Gruden says RGIII will go into season as starter

While the Titans are not yet ready to commit to Mettenberger, Washington head coach Jay Gruden gave Robert Griffin III the nod.

“We’ll go into the season with Robert as the Number One guy,” said Gruden, “and then it’s up to Robert to continue to grow and mature as a quarterback and a person. And moving forward, just want to see some improvement. That’s up to us as a staff to get more out of him.”

Washington holds the No. 5 pick in the draft.

Bradford on the move?

In other quarterback news, it sounds like Sam Bradford‘s reps will test the trade market.

Sam Bradford has permission to seek a trade. Finding compensation to Rams’ liking will be difficult. But his agent can speak to other teams

— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) February 18, 2015

Rams GM Les Snead doesn’t want to “delete” QB Sam Bradford, but wants insurance. Cites both curing syphilis and Bill Parcells’ book — Zach Berman (@ZBerm) February 18, 2015

The Rams currently hold the 10th pick in the draft, and could be another team interested in the services of Mariota or Jameis Winston. They also showed interest in Mark Sanchez last offseason.