Admiring Marcus Mariota doesn't make Tennessee Titans unhappy with Ryan Tannehill | Estes

As the latest example of why Twitter is the worst, there was A.J. Brown, offering support Monday for former Tennessee Titans teammate Marcus Mariota.

“Best leader I’ve ever been around,” wrote Brown, posting it on top of the news of Mariota’s signing with the Atlanta Falcons. He was trying to say something nice.

And yet, Twitter being Twitter and all, that became controversial. People began saying that Brown was taking a shot at Ryan Tannehill, which was just silly.

Brown ended up deleting his post, which was just sad.

The only reason I'm even mentioning this ridiculous situation is it underlined two things I find significant.

One is that a part of the Titans’ fanbase is going to stay salty at Tannehill for the playoff loss. (I mean, no headlines were asking if Brown’s post was a dig at Derrick Henry or Jeffery Simmons or Kevin Byard or any of the other prominent leaders in the Titans’ locker room.)

But another, more meaningful, takeaway is how much Mariota is still adored by those who knew him on the Titans.

I still consider that notable, because it’s unique. It's rarely this way. But in this case, sentiments like Brown’s are as genuine now as they were during the Titans' transitional season of 2019.

Even as the Titans all gradually came to understand that the better quarterback -- Tannehill – was the one playing and winning, Mariota remained one of the team’s most popular players because of the extraordinary class and dignity with which he approached the remainder of that season and the run to the AFC title game.

“He’s been a total pro, and that speaks to his character,” said Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator at the time. “Not an easy thing to go through. I give all the credit in the world to Marcus and how he’s handled it. It takes a really mature, emotionally intelligent person to do it the way he’s done it.”

“One of the better human beings I’ve ever been around,” added Byard.

I lacked the foresight to ask Byard at the time if he meant that as a slight to Tannehill.

Forever a role model

Sometimes images stick in your mind. One that always did for me was from a dispirited Titans locker room after the loss at Denver in October 2019. Many players had already departed, but Mariota was hanging around when Smith quietly approached and shook his hand in an encouraging, almost grateful, fashion.

Mariota hasn’t started an NFL game since being benched that day.

His final days in Nashville, however, were a great lesson about selflessness and not burning bridges to placate your own ego.

Because Smith, now the Falcons’ head coach, surely had more than a little bit to do with Atlanta signing Mariota on Monday as the presumed replacement for Matt Ryan, who was shipped to the Indianapolis Colts and into the Titans’ path. (I’ll get to that in a minute.)

Were there any justice in the meritocracy of pro football, the reunion of Mariota and Smith – two of my favorite people that I’ve encountered at Saint Thomas Sports Park (and, no, I don’t mean that as a slight to anyone else) – would work out beautifully for the Falcons. But there isn’t, and it won’t.

The Falcons are probably going to stink out loud next season, and that might be their intention. It appears Mariota was signed to bridge the gap between Ryan and whichever quarterback gets selected with a high draft pick in 2023.

But if there were justice in this sport, Mariota wouldn't have been available in the first place. He'd still be on the Titans and in the midst of a Hall of Fame career. He’d be the quarterback deserving of $230 million guaranteed instead of Deshaun Watson, who somehow upped his value to NFL teams by sitting out a season while dealing with sexual assault accusations and legal problems.

Watson, Ryan and the Titans

For the Titans, there was a duality to Monday’s quarterback moves. They’d smile at the news of Mariota being signed by Smith in Atlanta.

But they had to wince at Ryan ending up in Indianapolis.

And it was all Watson’s fault. As glad as the Titans had to be to see Watson finally exit their division, the Falcons’ failed attempt to land Watson was incredibly disrespectful to Ryan, who has been a loyal and very good quarterback for a very long time in Atlanta. The two sides had to break up over that.

And no matter how you slice the subsequent news, it is bad for the Titans that the Colts managed to level up on Carson Wentz with Ryan. While he isn’t a long-term solution, Ryan is the best of the Band-Aids that the Colts have added since Andrew Luck's retirement left them hanging and wounded in 2019.

Oddsmakers have immediately started putting the Colts nearly even – and maybe slightly ahead – of the two-time champion Titans as AFC South favorites next season.

That sort of thing isn't surprising, though. Eventually, the Colts are always the favorites in the AFC South. Because the Titans can win even more than 12 games and still be viewed that way and everyone knows it.

They are bound to be discounted. Heck, they love it. They revel in it.

Even as they’ve kept key players on defense like Harold Landry and Zach Cunningham and found a No. 1 tight end in Austin Hooper and a No. 2 receiver in Robert Woods.

There’s no reason to think the Titans are suddenly getting worse.

Just like there's no reason to think that their being happy for a former quarterback indicates dissatisfaction with their current one.

Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Tennessee Titans are impacted by Marcus Mariota, Matt Ryan moves