sports
MARIOTA WILL LIKELY START
AT A BOTTOM-TIER NFL TEAM
Like many UO graduates, Marcus Mariota needs a job. But Marcus won’t
be reading Eugene Weekly’s help wanted ads. He will wait for the National
Football League draft to learn where he will be working.
The draft, scheduled for April 30 to May 2 at the Auditorium Theatre in
Chicago, is when the 32 teams in the NFL pick college players and gain the
rights to sign them to contracts. Fortunately, Mariota put together one of the
best college seasons ever, so he is likely to be picked early in the draft and
signed to a really big contract — last year’s first pick, Jadeveon Clowney, will
earn more than $5 million a year over the next four years. Unfortunately, that
means Mariota is likely to be picked by a team that was really bad in 2014. The
worst teams draft first, so the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — who won only two
games last season — hold the first pick.
Whatever team picks Mariota will hold the sole rights to sign him to a con-
tract, so teams won’t be bidding against each other for his services. But don’t
worry about Mariota — rookie salaries are essentially set by the NFL’s collec-
tive bargaining agreement, and his rookie contract will pay him many millions.
And, if he is successful in the NFL, he can make really big money — top play-
ers earned more than $20 million in 2014.
Some “experts” predict Marcus will be the first pick in the draft, while oth-
ers project him going as low as the number six pick. Before the draft, lots of
NFL teams will be studying films and measuring, testing, poking and prod-
ding Mariota to try to figure out if he will be a star in the NFL. But the draft is
more art than science — this year’s Super Bowl will match no. 199 pick Tom
Brady of the New England Patriots against
no. 75 pick Russell Wilson of the Seattle
Seahawks.
So, where will Mariota end up? It’s
anybody’s guess, but we can probably rule
out the only team in the Pacific Northwest
— the Seattle Seahawks. The Hawks are
pretty happy with their quarterback, who
has already won one Super Bowl and will
try to add another next month. The teams
holding the top six picks are Tampa Bay,
the Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars,
Oakland Raiders, Washington and the New
York Jets.
Former Oregon coach Chip Kelly coached Mariota
at Oregon and knows what he can do. So, will Chip’s
Philadelphia Eagles get a shot at Mariota? Unlikely,
because the Eagles don’t pick until number 20, and
the Ducks star is likely to be long gone by then. The
Eagles could trade with other teams to move up to an
earlier pick, but that would be a bold, unconven-
tional gamble. Chip? — Bern Johnson
Former Oregon coach
Chip Kelly coached
Mariota at Oregon and
knows what he can do.
So, will Chip’s
Philadelphia Eagles get
a shot at Mariota?
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He makes deposits and transfers money on
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Buys lunch with a swipe of his SELCO
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Replenishes his own positive energy with
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Thanks to SELCO, Spence has more time to
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selco.org / 541-686-8000
Several locations in Eugene and Springfi eld
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Membership requirements apply. See SELCO for details.
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eugeneweekly.com • January 22, 2015
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