Tennessee Titans NFL 2015 news: Marcus Mariota praised for offseason performance

Marcus MariotaWikimedia Commons

The second overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft quarterback Marcus Mariota of the Tennessee Titans has been performing very well this offseason and again received praises during minicamp, this time from head coach Ken Whisenhunt and backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst.

"I think he progressed every day. It's a credit to him and the way he works and Coach [Mark] Helfrich at Oregon really did a nice job in preparing him," Whisenhunt stated according to ESPN.

"I thought he did a great job from where he started. He did a great job the first day he came out here. But I think he's more comfortable. It's obvious when he's comfortable, he plays a little faster," he added.

Meanwhile, Whitehurst has seen the 21-year-old work during the offseason and believes there is nothing to change in the former Oregon quarterback's game.

"It's kind of funny; the way I look at it is, the offseason is over and, I don't mean this in the wrong way, I didn't see tons of progress. It's just like he came in here and he looked like he'd been doing it for a couple years already," the 32-year-old said according to ESPN.

Whitehurst also stated, "There was never anything that I saw where it was like, 'Well that needs to be worked on.' He was pretty damn good at everything when he got here, and he's better now."

"I don't want to get ahead of it, who knows what's going to happen. I think he's going to be a heck of a player," he added.

Whitehurst thinks he should not be giving Mariota any advice since he cannot point out a thing in the rookie's game that needs to be corrected.

Despite his outstanding performance this offseason, Mariota remains unsigned but Titans general manager Ruston Webster sees no future contract issues.

"It's going like most contract situations go about this time of year," Ruston said in a radio interview.

"I personally don't see there being a major issue. ... I don't concern myself too much with it if a guy misses a few days. We've had good talks. We're motivated. Marcus is motivated. So I would expect that we would be able to get something done," he also said.

"As you said, we have plenty of time right now, so we'll just see where it all goes," Ruston added.