After spending the 2024 season with the Commanders, Marcus Mariota is well known to the local media and most Washington fans, but he met with local reporters on Thursday to talk about his contract extension, which has been described in social media as a one-year deal worth $8m.
Mariota started out talking about how “the grass isn’t always greener” and how special the Commanders and the quarterback room were last year. He said that any offer from another team was really going to have to “knock \[his\] socks off” to get him to leave. Obviously, since he’s still here, his socks are still on.
He added, “When I took a step back and thought about it and reflected, it was so important for me to be a part of this and to just enjoy my journey. There’s been a lot of ups...and downs \[in my career\] and I just wanted to enjoy coming into work. What DQ has built here is probably the best environment that I’ve ever been a part of. For me, that’s hard to leave.”
We’ve all talked about the impact of Jayden Daniels on free agency. I think anyone who has listened to this week’s player pressers (Ertz, Bates, Will Harris, Mariota) would have to give some weight to the idea that DQ and his “culture” are big selling points as well.
Mariota agreed that last year changed his view of the game and his career, adding that when you are part of a group that believes in one another and is focused on doing the right things, you find ways to win. He referred to the team’s close bonds as the ‘secret sauce’ that helped them succeed in ‘24.
He mentioned that he is heading to California and expects to “pop in” to see Jayden Daniels while he is there.
Mariota said that Washington was always the right fit, but that because of “ego and pride” he wanted to see if he could get another shot at a starting role on a different team, which is why he wanted to test the waters in free agency this week. Ultimately, he knew that this was the right fit and he is very very excited to be back.
He discussed the continuity of the coaching staff and said that it is huge in Jayden Daniels’ success and team success, reiterating what a ‘fun environment’ he had enjoyed last year.
He expanded on the idea that older successful players like Laremy Tunsil and Deebo Samuel help raise the level of the roster by setting good examples for the younger players.
Asked to reflect on his situation, Mariota described helping Jayden Daniels as a “full circle” moment that allow him to live his career a second time, that the mistakes he made ‘don’t go to waste’, and that he can help provide stability for Daniels, giving Jayden the opportunity to be ‘the best version of himself’.
The session ended with Mariota being asked about and praising the play of Noah Brown, the receiver who caught the Hail Mary pass against the Bears mid-season, which seemed like an odd final question, but I didn’t write the script.