Oct 27, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) and quarterback Marcus Mariota (18) talk to each other during the first half against the Chicago Bears at Commanders Field. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Commanders QB reveals wild recruitment story

Originally posted on Washington Commanders on SI
By David Harrison | Last updated Apr 24, 2025 10:00 AM ET

Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota was able to help Jayden Daniels navigate his rookie season because he's been there before.

As a Heisman Trophy-winning college quarterback coming out of the Oregon Ducks' program, the future Commanders quarterback became the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, a decade before Daniels would be taken in the same spot in his draft.

It turns out, however, that Mariota's journey could have gone much differently than it did, and he could have landed with Washington long before he did. However, it would have been the one on the West Coast, not in the DMV.

Sharing a story from his recruitment to Oregon on the Bussin' With The Boys podcast, Mariota recalled a time he and fellow quarterback Johnny Manziel were both brought in to work out at the same time, and how it nearly killed his dream of playing for the program.

"I had been there for two days. I'm in pads, like doing all this stuff, and Johnny shows up, unpadded, t-shirt and shorts, goes in there, says they're gonna do a workout with him," Mariota shared. "Coach (Chip) Kelly hasn't really even talked to me. I've been here for two days. He's like, ‘Hey, why don't you just come in, just do a workout with Johnny?’ And I'm mad cause I'm like, 'Johnny's not even been here.' Like I was just not feeling the love, basically."

It didn't end there. Eventually, Manziel committed to Oregon, and that really got under Mariota's skin. So much so that he considered not even playing for the Ducks, a team he'd dreamt of playing for since watching an alumn from his own high school playing for the school as a youngster.

"We're on the plane ride home, and I told my mom like, ‘I want to go to Washington,'" Mariota continued. "Steve Sarkisian was up there and Sark was like, he rolled out the red carpet. I was like, ‘I'm going there. I'm settled.’ So we're sitting there on the plane and my mom's like, ‘You really want to go to Washington?’ I was like, ‘No.’"

Mariota knew in his heart Oregon was the place for him. Eventually, Manziel flipped his comittment to go play for Texas A&M where he eventually won the Heisman Trophy himself. Mariota, of course, became the first Ducks player and first Hawaiin to win the award, and went on to be the second overall pick, drafted by the Tennessee Titans, in 2015.