Marcus Mariota injury will have little impact on the Las Vegas Raiders
By Alex Perl
Las Vegas Raiders backup quarterback Marcus Mariota is an injury waiting to happen, and may not be back for quite some time.
It’s a brand new football season, which unfortunately means also a brand new Marcus Mariota injury, as the 27-year-old quarterback aggravated his quad and will miss several weeks after injuring himself in his only play on Monday night. Apologies for the pessimistic start to this article, but numbers don’t lie, and the injury list for Mariota is a long one:
- 2015: Shoulder A/C Joint Sprain
- 2015: Knee MCL Sprain Grade 2 (this sprain occurred twice in 2015)
- 2016: Leg Fibula Fracture
- 2017: Thigh Hamstring Sprain
- 2018: Cervical Neck Stinger
- 2018: Arm Elbow Sprain
- 2020: Chest Pectoral Strain
- 2021: Quadriceps Injury
It is rather unfortunate considering that the play Mariota went down on was a scramble for 31 yards, one of the longest gains for the Raiders the entire night. It had finally seemed that head coach Jon Gruden had found a way to get the dangerous backup quarterback on the field, but it did not last for long.
Mariota was never going to win the starting job in Las Vegas, despite whatever some Raider fans were expecting to believe, but he could be considered one of the most talented backup quarterbacks in the league. Now, this seems to be all speculation, as injuries have doomed him for most of his career.
However, at only 27-years-old, Mariota, if he can stay healthy, should have plenty of football left in him. The former No. 2 overall pick and Heisman Trophy winner had an up and down career as a starter for the Tennessee Titans, but most of his issues were not his play, but his availability.
After restructuring his contract this offseason, many around the league felt that Mariota would be traded to compete for a starting job elsewhere, but after spending the majority of the preseason and training camp injured, it seemed the same old story on Mariota had crept up once again.
The injury is annoying for the Silver and Black, but not unexpected. The reason to keep Nathan Peterman now seems even more logical considering that Mariota is out again.
What Marcus Mariota’s injury means for the Raiders
The injury does not change the Raiders’ plans at all honestly, as Mariota has played very little in his Raiders career, and Nathan Peterman has a strong command of the playbook should anything happen to incumbent starter Derek Carr. Sure, it was rumored that the Raiders planned to get Mariota involved more, but at this point, that is all hearsay.
If Mariota comes back this season, which is more than likely, he will give the Raiders an added dimension of scrambling ability, but if he should not, or find a job elsewhere, the Raiders wouldn’t feel the negative ramifications of this.