Public service announcement: Stop trying to trade Marcus Mariota

In case you have been lucky enough to miss this theme on twitter over the last few hours, let me fill you in on what is going on. For some reason, everyone and their mother suddenly has an opinion on what the Tennessee Titans should do with their franchise quarterback and instead of building the roster around him, they want the Titans to trade him. Good luck.

Sure teams should try to trade for Marcus Mariota (the rookie quarterback who was on pace to break the TD record if not for injuries) if they need a quarterback. And if the Titans do trade Mariota, sure they should look at Carson Wentz and Jared Goff. But that just isn't going to happen, nor should it.

Everyone that is saying that the 49ers or Browns should trade for Marcus Mariota, might as well sub in the name Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, or Jameis Winston there for all the sense it would make. Some of those players have done more in the NFL, but none did more on a per game basis in their first year. On top of that, almost all of them had foundational pieces on the offense they took over that made their lives much easier.

It is ridiculous to even consider trading a franchise quarterback and those who are tweeting their trade ideas for Mariota need to go ahead and just take a 24-hour break and cool off. Look at one twitter conversation:

Phil Savage: "If you were @Titans, trade Marcus Mariota to @49ers for #7 overall and 2017 #1? Carson Wentz plus two #1's would be net. #WentzWagon"

To which John Middlekauff said: "Not sure Mariota will ever be more than a faster Alex Smith. Id think about if I'm Tennessee"

These are two guys that I respect and follow on twitter, but I have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Middlekauff is seemingly still stuck on his scouting report, or maybe I am missing how Alex Smith's rookie year of 165 attempts and 1 touchdown pass equate to Marcus Mariota's rookie year with 19 touchdown passes in 370 attempts.

I don't know, maybe I am missing something on why any of this makes sense. But, until someone gives me an argument that makes sense on why you would trade your best player (who has the potential to be a top-5 quarterback in the NFL in a few years) for a giant question mark, this is my stance.