Who Should I Start? Marcus Mariota or Cam Ward

Wednesday, March 12, 2:18 PM

Veteran free-agent quarterback Marcus Mariota is signing a one-year deal to return to the Washington Commanders, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. The former No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans spent last season with Washington and primarily backed up Jayden Daniels. Mariota threw for 364 yards and four touchdowns in three games a season ago. While Mariota clearly has no path to the starting job, he will be on the fantasy football radar in deep Superflex or two-QB leagues as a deep bench stash. Should Daniels have to miss any time next season, Mariota would have at least low-end QB2 upside playing with wideouts Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel Sr. along with tight end Zach Ertz in Kliff Kingsbury's offense.

Tuesday, May 13, 2:53 PM

The Tennessee Titans are working to make rookie quarterback Cam Ward as comfortable as possible in his new NFL offense, according to ESPN's Turron Davenport. Head coach Brian Callahan and company are integrating passing concepts from Miami's offense last season to help expedite the transition from college to the pros for its No. 1 overall pick. "We have it all broken down and put it all in our terminology," Callahan said. "We try to teach our system the way we run it, and then we take input from Cam." The team hopes to replicate the early success of CJ Stroud in 2023 and Jayden Daniels in 2024, and Ward has made a habit of having strong first years in new systems. The Texas native transitioned from a wing-T offense in high school to an air raid scheme as a freshman at Incarnate Word. He then had two fantastic years at Washington State before becoming a Heisman contender in just one season at Miami. While Ward appears to be pro-ready, it's still most common for rookie quarterbacks to have a healthy amount of ups and downs. Additionally, the Titans' pass-catching group, led by Calvin Ridley, is one of the worst in the NFL, so fantasy football expectations for Ward should be tempered in Year 1.