Marcus Mariota
Washington Commanders·#8Season Stats · 10 games
Advanced Metrics EPA & Next Gen Stats
STM Take
The #36 in 2025 matches his 2019 Tennessee floor, which was his last season as a full starter. Wk 13's 23.26 PPR shows the ceiling is still there in scramble-friendly game scripts, but the -2.1 Wk 14 and 3.7 Wk 16 outings show how bad the floor is when defenses prepare for him. Washington uses him exactly as a movement-skill backup behind Jayden Daniels.
Mariota came out of Oregon as the 2014 Heisman winner and #2 overall pick by Tennessee in 2015. He made the Pro Bowl in 2016 and authored one of the most famous postseason plays of the decade with a touchdown pass to himself in the 2017 wild-card win over Kansas City. He lost his job to Ryan Tannehill in 2019. Backup and starter stints in Las Vegas, Atlanta (13 starts in 2022), Philadelphia, and Washington have followed, with the Falcons run his only extended starter look since his Tennessee tenure ended.
Strengths
- Functional mobility still produces in scramble situations (Wk 13 2025 hit 23.26 PPR, Wk 10 hit 18.72). His 2,500+ career rushing yards is a meaningful floor any offense can deploy.
- Familiar with the Washington offense after a year in the system. His Atlanta 2022 starter run (13 starts) and 2016 Pro Bowl prove the ceiling has been real, even if it was a long time ago.
Concerns
- The -2.1 Wk 14 and 3.7 Wk 16 games show his floor is genuinely bad when defenses prepare for him as a multi-week starter.
- An eight-game range from -2.1 to 23.26 PPR is the profile of a clear backup. Career touchdown-to-interception ratio of 1.6 is below the modern starter line.
What to watch: Whether Washington keeps the same backup arrangement behind Daniels or moves on for cheaper depth before final cuts.
Fantasy Outlook
Marcus Mariota scored 108 PPR points, 10.8 per game this season. Compare him against any QB and track weekly rankings in our fantasy tools.