NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The broad sense of the Tennessee Titans from afar is that they need a quarterback.

It’s reasonable. Zach Mettenberger didn’t light it up as a rookie, didn’t lead the Titans to a win and wound up hurt.

They may stick with him -- I think they will and it's a scenario a lot of people further from Nashville don't give sufficient weight. But the Titans may not be ready to hand the job to Mettenberger and bringing in an alternative certainly includes the possibility of a high pick.

Marcus Mariota's skills don't necessarily line up with what Ken Whisenhunt looks for in a quarterback. Steve Dykes/Getty Images

Maybe that alternative is Jameis Winston if the Bucs don’t take him, though I’d be very scared of his non-football behavior and the Titans should be, too.

Maybe that alternative is Marcus Mariota if the Bucs don’t take him.

But Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt is a pocket-passer guy, and while Mariota may develop as a pocket passer he will enter the league as a guy who’s won a Heisman and had great success largely because of what he does on the move.

And Ken Whisenhunt is not about putting quarterbacks on the move. I don't have a huge beef with that. Incorporating a moving quarterback and getting consistently good play from him is hard in the NFL today. Russell Wilson is great, but guys like Colin Kaepernick and Cam Newton are awfully up and down and the threat of injury from hits outside the pocket is an additional risk.

I understand why Mel Kiper gives Mariota to the Titans in his first mock draft .

But we’re going to talk a great deal between now and April 30 about fits.

The Titans are committed to Whisenhunt, but that could change with another terrible season. He and GM Ruston Webster need impact players who can help now.

Mariota is someone Whisenhunt would need to reshape, and reshaping him could ruin his chancea.

I understand Whisenhunt's affection for pocket passers, though the stable of quarterbacks to pick from doesn't always present a coach with such an option. A team led by a coach with a stubborn dedication to pocket passers can’t draft a quarterback who needs to run around. It would be a quintessential square-peg, round-hole marriage, very likely doomed to fail.

At least until the Titans were coached by someone more willing to run an offense that puts a quarterback on the move and embraces work outside the pocket.

Things can change, certainly.

But there are a lot of reasons why I wouldn’t put Mariota with the Titans in any mock draft.