Ron Jaworski Thinks Marcus Mariota Will Be Taken 1st in the NFL Draft

Ron Jaworski, the former Philadelphia Eagles QB, is prone to hyperbole. A sampling of some of the things the ESPN analyst has said since leaving the Monday Night Football booth:

July 2013: Ron Jaworski Ranks Joe Flacco Ahead of Drew Brees in His Stupid Quarterback Rankings.
* Jury’s still out here. Brees did just lose Jimmy Graham and the Saints missed the playoffs and Flacco is playing terrific.

August 2013: Ron Jaworski Continues to Say Dumb Things About Quarterbacks. This Time, it’s Colin Kaepernick.
* It’s only been two seasons, and he is way, way off. Good luck on Kaepernick improving now that he’s lost his No. 1 advocate, coach Jim Harbaugh.

Feb 2014: Ron Jaworski Says He Wouldn’t Draft Johnny Manziel in the First Three Rounds
* Through one season, he looks smart! Manziel just left rehab.

Jaws has now chosen to dabble in the upcoming NFL draft. He made a bold claim on CSN Philly Sports Talk: Marcus Mariota is going 1st to Tampa. And he has sources!

"“The latest I’m hearing now from my sources around the league, who are pretty wired in, is that he’s going to go number one now to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,” said Jaworski. “Mariota’s stock, remember it was quiet for a while? And there’s a reason for that. There’s a lull every year until about 30 days before the draft. Now the coaches get involved. Prior to that, it’s the scouts, it’s the roadies that are filling out the paper work. Now the coaches get involved. Now team owners get involved. Now general managers get involved. So you’re starting to see, in my opinion, Winston’s stock starting to slide a little bit and Mariota’s stock starting to go up a little bit.”"

So teams running war rooms are tight-lipped and everyone in the media is guessing and getting smoke-screened and yet “wired in” people are telling Jaws that Mariota is going 1st? We all hear things coming out of teams – people love to chirp, especially agents and scouts. Usually, there’s a reason behind it.

For weeks – months, even – Jameis Winston has been a mortal lock to go 1st in this month’s NFL draft. Winston has avoided trouble off the field, the Bucs are obviously taking a QB, and there have been no indications that Tampa has much (any?) interest in Oregon’s Marcus Mariota. Something doesn’t quite add up.

Only two weeks and a couple days until the draft!