Mariota doesn't throw any bombs

INDIANAPOLIS - Most of us got our first chance to see and talk to Marcus Mariota in person yesterday, and frankly, we were underwhelmed.

At the NFL Scouting Combine podium, Mariota did not shed his gray-and-orange NFL workout attire to reveal an Eagles jersey underneath. There were no visible Chip Kelly tattoos. Mariota did not declare that he would refuse to play pro football if he could not be reunited with his former Oregon coach. The man Kelly has called the best player he has ever coached seemed a little bored with the whole draft process, really, and questions about the Eagles possibly trading up to acquire his rights did not ignite any visible fire.

"People will always talk, there will always be rumors. But for the most part right now in this process for me, I'm trying to be the best player I can be, in order to make an impact on whatever team I go to," Mariota said.

Has he thought about playing for Kelly again, how good it would be to run an offense adapted from the one he thrived in at Oregon?

"Yeah, why not? That would be a fun opportunity," Mariota said, without any visible animation. "But again, this process is out of our control and we'll see what happens."

Mariota said he had not yet met with Kelly here, but had met with new Eagles quarterbacks coach Ryan Day.

Brett Hundley, the turnover-prone UCLA QB who preceded Mariota at the same podium, was much more enthusiastic and engaged, and talked a lot more readily about how he thought he'd fit with the Eagles.

Alas, at the start of the day, we'd decided Paul Domowitch would get Hundley for his story and I would take the two marquee QBs, Mariota and Florida State's Jameis Winston. Then Mariota tiptoed through his 12 minutes, and Winston's availability was postponed until today.

Darn that Domo.

What did we learn about the quarterback everyone assumes Kelly wants to build his NFL empire around?

He measured a shade under 6-4 yesterday, weighed 222. (Winston recorded the same height, weighed 231.) Mariota hasn't called out plays in the huddle since he was in high school, but he's been working on this with QB guru Kevin O'Connell, or was until O'Connell was hired this week as the Cleveland Browns' quarterbacks coach. Now Mariota is working with San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers.

Since even in traditional offenses, NFL quarterbacks don't really call their own plays - they recite what somebody tells them in their helmet headsets - it's unclear why this is a really big deal in the draft process, but apparently it is. Arizona coach Bruce Arians complained yesterday about evaluating QBs from spread offenses, like Oregon's.

"So many times, we're evaluating a quarterback who has never called a play in the huddle, never used a snap count. They hold up a card on the sideline, he kicks his foot and throws the ball. That ain't playing quarterback," Arians said. "There's no leadership involved. There might be leadership [when the QB is] on the bench, but you get 'em now and there's the verbiage, they have to spit the verbiage out, the snap count - they're light-years behind."

Of course, Mariota presumably would not be light-years behind with the Eagles, because they have one of those insidious offenses where players read their assignments from cards held up on the sideline. But there are other concerns about a QB coming to the NFL from Oregon's offense that might not be so easily dispelled by donning a helmet with wings.

There are NFL throws scouts say they have not been able to see Mariota make, working in Oregon's frenzied attack against frazzled, confused college defenses with less athletic players than he'll face in the pros. Mariota will have to recognize blitzes, work through progressions, fit throws into tighter windows. He was asked yesterday about his favorite throw.

"I enjoy throwing the seam ball in three-deep coverage,"he said. "At Oregon, we did get to see a lot of three-deep zone. Tight ends and some of our slot receivers were kind of able to get in their zones. It's a fun throw, because you can't put too much onto it, because you'll throw it into a linebacker's face. You've got to put enough touch on it to put it over the linebacker and have enough zip on it to be in front of the safety."

Mariota will find those gaps much smaller in the NFL, where he'll be throwing against a lot more man-press coverage.

"It will be an adjustment I'll be able to handle," Mariota said. "It's something I'm going to continue to work on with Philip and different other quarterback coaches right now, because Kevin's with the Browns. Learning as much as I can, learning how my drops time up with the route concepts and how my feet are going to help me go through my progressions. All this stuff is little things that I can continue to work on, that will help my adjustment."

Mariota said he had no thoughts on how he compares with NFL QBs who had to make similar adjustments, such as Robert Griffin III and Colin Kaepernick.

"You really limit yourself if you compare yourself to others," he said. "That's something I was taught at a young age. For me, I just really focus on myself and make sure I can be the best player I can be."

Asked about the perceived horse race between himself and Winston to be the first overall pick, by Tampa Bay, Mariota said: "It doesn't really affect me at all. That's going to be their opinion, that's going to be their decision. All I can really control is how I prepare and get ready for whatever team picks me."

The draft remains more than 2 months distant, but speculation this week has held that the Bucs are leaning toward Winston, who played in a more conventional offense and has a tremendous arm. That would mean Mariota would slip to Tennessee, which might be interested in shopping its pick. But a move from 20th, where the Eagles sit, to second overall would be unprecedented.

"All it takes is one team to believe in me and to give me an opportunity," Mariota said, as if he were some guy from Akron with fifth-round aspirations. "I'll do my best to make the most of it."

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian