The Washington Football Team is searching for a starting quarterback. That search had them making a push for Las Vegas Raiders QB Marcus Mariota.
“Washington tried to acquire Marcus Mariota from the Raiders, according to multiple sources, but talks have cooled off,” Ben Standig of The Athletic reports.
The latest report goes in line with Michael Lombardi’s report in February, Washington was “extremely interested” in Mariota. Talks cooled off. Possibly due to incentives in Mariota’s current contract that could balloon his $10.75 million salary to as much as $22 million. Last week, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Mariota’s trade market “dried up significantly” when interested teams learned of the incentive kickers.
But Standig adds for Washington, “Reworking Mariota’s contract to cap his max in the $14 million to $15 million range, and fully guaranteeing that money, is plausible.”
Marcus Mariota has one year remaining on his deal. However, the Raiders want to shed some salaries. If they can’t land a trade with a suitor, releasing Mariota is a possibility.
Washington will be adding salary cap space, as they are expected to release Alex Smith in the coming days. They’ll free up $14.7 million of cap space cutting Smith. Could that extra money be flipped to absorb Mariota’s contract?
