Rexrode: Marcus Mariota still Titans' No. 1 offseason question

INDIANAPOLIS — How’s Marcus?

We have so many questions right now about what the Titans are about to do in free agency and the draft to improve their roster, and we asked all that came to mind of Jon Robinson and Mike Mularkey on Wednesday at the NFL scouting combine.

But that one is bigger than all the others combined. The one about quarterback Marcus Mariota and the right fibula he fractured Dec. 24 at Jacksonville, ensuring he would finish his second season on the shelf as he did his first.

The answers were just as you’d expect, delivered with confirmation that Mariota is now putting some weight on the leg and walking around in a boot as he rehabs with University of Oregon trainers and medical staff.

“We have no doubt he’ll be raring to go for next year,” Robinson said of Mariota, who is in Oregon with his family by his side.

“I feel pretty good about it,” Mularkey said.

But for a guy who feels pretty good about it, Mularkey sure is babysitting Mariota from afar.

He said he talks to Mariota “every couple days,” and they aren’t allowed to talk football at this time of year per the most recent collective bargaining agreement. I doubt they’re talking country music. They’re talking about the rehab of the leg, the single most important limb in the Titans’ quest to return to contender status.

Considering the haziness of Mariota’s timetable and the lack of clarity on any damage the leg may have sustained along with the fracture, this feels a bit touchy and delicate. It feels like a bigger deal than we’ve made of it.

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I mean, the guy has a metal plate in his leg now. That doesn’t mean he won’t make a full recovery, but his game relies heavily on those legs.

He’s not the statuesque surgeon who just needs time to throw. He needs that speed to realize his potential for NFL greatness. The Titans need his run threat in this offense.

Asked if there’s been any discussion about curtailing that element of Mariota’s game, Mularkey said: “I don’t think so, I think he’s supposed to have a full recovery for it.”

“That hasn’t been in any of the discussion, running him less. Because I think the way we run Marcus is very smart. They are designed to have everybody blocked. Unless somebody doesn’t get their block, he’s not going to get exposed to unnecessary hits. To lose that threat of his ability to run the ball is a big loss for our offense. Again, we’ll see how he comes out of it, but I expect a full recovery.”

There’s no question Mariota will do everything in his power to make that happen. Everything he does at Titans headquarters, from the weight room to the film room, is full-throttle to the point of others in the building going out of their way to talk about it.

Of course, that feeds into Mularkey’s helicopter coaching/parenting as well. He doesn’t want Mariota to overdo things. If the results are coming slower than hoped, an achiever like Mariota is going to have a hard time sitting back and accepting it, and Mularkey said he’s been told “to be careful and be smart about it.”

And Titans medical personnel are “keeping track of everything he’s doing, from A to Z,” Mularkey said, communicating daily with the University of Oregon folks.

There’s nothing abnormal about this on its face. Mariota is the franchise. His recovery is paramount and there’s been nothing to suggest he’s had any significant setbacks.

It would be easier for the Titans if Mariota were rehabbing in Nashville right now, but in the meantime they aren’t going to sit back and hope things are going OK. Makes sense.

But then I hear Mularkey talk timetable and I wonder just how much unknown remains in play right now.

“I think our No. 1 goal is to make sure he’s under center when we open up opening day,” Mularkey said of Mariota. “I’m not going to put a time frame on when that first practice or when the first OTA (he’ll participate), I can’t do that because every player is different in how they recover. It’s a difficult thing to do.”

So is working back from a fractured fibula. So is looking at this situation and deeming it fine and dandy until Mariota confirms it on the field.

Contact Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @joerexrode.