Could Marcus Mariota Really Be Robert Griffin 2.0?

Robert Griffin III and Marcus Mariota, if you talk to any diehard college football fan they will tell you that these are two of the most dynamic quarterbacks the game of college football has seen in the past several years.  Their playmaking ability, both with their arms and legs, made them two of the most exciting quarterbacks to watch and both led their teams with a confidence few other quarterbacks have possessed.

The similarities between Griffin and Mariota are very noticeable and their NFL careers could both be a carbon copy as well. Griffin and Mariota both won the Heisman Trophy, Griffin in 2011 and Mariota in 2014, and they both led a team with similar offenses.

Griffin played in a free flowing pass happy, spread attack at Baylor that allowed him to put up massive offensive numbers. Griffin was allowed the opportunity to throw passes vertically down the field 40, 50, sometimes even 60 yards at a time. This certainly developed his deep passing ability and one of Griffin’s strengths, even at the NFL level, was the deep pass.

Now as we turn the page to Mariota’s college career we see a lot of the same characteristics that Griffin’s college career had. Mariota played in a similar pass happy offense at Oregon, but Mariota and the Ducks relied more on the run game than Baylor did. Mariota was basically the field general making most of the offensive calls at the line of scrimmage and his speed allowed the run game to flourish in Eugene, Oregon.

Mariota, much like Griffin, has a rare ability of throwing a very accurate deep ball thanks to the offense they played in at the college level. Mariota’s arm strength is sneaky good, which may surprise some people because of his smaller statue. His speed is also very elite and possesses the rare ability to run away from defenders that you would expect from a top notch running back or receiver.

I mention all of these things because of the fact, over the weekend Redskins GM Scott McCloughan mentioned that the Redskins would look at the option of drafting Mariota if he is available at the 5^th overall pick.

I feel Mariota and Griffin could be headed for the same football careers because of their similarities at the college level. I understand each quarterback has their own unique abilities, but if they both were to end up in Washington that could spell trouble for their NFL careers.

Mariota and Griffin are both world class athletes, but now will their NFL careers follow suit or will Mariota break through and become a star capable of winning Super Bowls. The future appears to be bright for Mariota, but now we can only wait and see just how bright that future will exactly be.