Marcus Mariota holds press conference

warm today all right so you came here with what purpose in mind um obviously when DQ calls and those guys call and say look we think you belong here what was your mindset well I think first and foremost I just thought it was a great opportunity um you know it's an awesome staff we had a bunch of just great vet players that have been around um so when they came calling for me I just I couldn't say no um you know honestly I wanted to try to stay West I wanted to be closer to home um but with these guys in this opportunity I couldn't pass that and as a veteran you're you're you're overseeing a guy who's played0 one point of football here in the National Football League uh what are you seeing and and how can you help him yeah you know it's it's so interesting right like I feel like I've been through the gamut of everything um I've been a starter I've been a backup I've been hurt um I've been benched you know and I think for me like I try to just bring all those experiences into the room um you know I really believe that the quarterback position is one of the hardest in Sports and when you have a solid foundation in the quarterback room um it really doesn't matter who's pulling the trigger I think it's going to be beneficial for everybody what do you think of Jaden so far now that you guys have been in here for a month or so yeah he looks good um you know I think he really moves well um throws the ball well and um you know for a young guy that's coming in uh seems to really like command the offense and um I think that's important I think that's very important in the quarterback position to be able to like stand in front of these guys especially older players and kind of nail it and say you know I got this I got it figured out um so I think he's done a great job of that um and we just got to continue to help him grow and develop and um you know I think at the end of the day when we're all competing in that room it makes every one of us better how important was it for you to work with Brian Johnson further uh I he's awesome um I can't say enough good words and good things about him um he is also part of the reason why I came um I think from a football mind standpoint uh he's one the better ones that I've been around and um I just think the person itself um he's just he's high integrity guy and I just try to surround myself with that kind of people you know as you get older in this league you've been around you just trying to surround yourself with good people and um I really think that's what they're building here now that you've been around uh Cliff for at least a few weeks what how would you describe the offense just in general like what's the what's how would you describe it uh fun I love it um you know I think again someone that's really Incorporated what he loves to do but also like he tries to put each and every single one of us in the best position possible um so that may look different right it may look different for Jaden it may look different for me it may look different for Jeff or Sam um and also kind of depends on who's in there when they're skill guys so um when you're able to do that and be very versatile especially as a play caller I think that's um I think that's really cool and I think for us as players it's it's a lot of confidence boosting and Dan preached competition at every position including quarterback what's your sense of the competition with you and Jaden well I think I think competition makes everybody better um regardless of who is the starter day one um I checked my ego a long time ago um you know and I really believe that when you have a healthy quarterback room that's really just trying to compete and make each other better um you're going to eventually get everybody in that room to play at their best level so um regardless of who's a starter week one um I'm do everything I can to be the best version of myself and also bring out the best out of my teammates how did you check your ego and how is that you know different than you were in Philly or Atlanta oh I it wasn't different then I really I think this game humbles you um I've been I was humbled very early on in my career in Tennessee and um you know I just I love I love ball I love being around it um so regardless of what my situation entails I put a smile on my face and I just I love coming to work and um that's not going to be any different if I'm here or somewhere else um I don't change that mentality for anything Cliff obviously comes from an air raid tree but he would say that you know it's reductive to call Mar do you what would you like label the offense how would you describe it see I don't I don't think you can put labels on it I think that's what's the beautiful thing about it and um yeah I just I don't I wouldn't want to kind of limit what it what it looks like you know um for us it's it's fun to play in there's so many different aspects that you can get get into um but to label it something I think does it uh a disservice you mentioned surrounding yourself with good people in this situation it's all fairly new here the name's new the ownership's new the coach do you think about that as a player the chance to kind of start something and said something here absolutely absolutely I think that's that's part of again there's a lot of factors that really led to me coming here um but to be kind of a part of a new regime um you know a new owner new staff um new players I think it's it's a great opportunity to kind of set the trajectory for a franchise and that opportunity itself was something that I was excited to be a part of more you know I'm sure intrinsically you want to be that starting quarterback again so how do you find that balance of competing but also being that Mentor well I think it's competing with yourself um I learned a long time ago when you try to compare yourself or you try to compete against somebody else you're really just trying to be better than you know what's in front of you and I think if you try to focus on being the best version of yourself every day and competing that way um you'll find that you're you're making better plays you're making better decisions so I look at it at from that standpoint of just like how can I get better myself um at the same time just kind of bringing uh bringing up the quarterback room as well what year number is this for you in the end this is 10 so that fire oh it's still there how's it explain that how's it still there even at year 10 yeah the passion's still there uh to be honest honest with you there's moments when it wasn't there um you know whether it was situations that I had previously in my career um that kind of knock you down um but being around this staff being around someone like Brian again um you know you find the love and I've kind of had this roller coaster of emotions through my career of my love with the game and my love of football and um when you come to work and you got such a great energy and a great group of guys um it it kind of just ignites that again and um like I said I I wouldn't pass this opportunity up for anything and I've been I've been really enjoying it all right thanks thank you guys have a good day thanks