Marcus Mariota has signed a four-year, $24.2 million deal with the Tennessee Titans, the team announced Tuesday afternoon via Twitter.
The #Titans have signed quarterback Marcus Mariota. MORE: http://t.co/KAUuxC6snvpic.twitter.com/T1fkNzYb87
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) July 21, 2015
The deal also includes a $15.9 million signing bonus, according to Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports.
After being drafted with the second overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft on April 30, Mariota and the Titans finally agreed to the deal just ten days before the start of training camp.
“I’d like to thank Marcus and his representatives for their diligence in working with us to finalize this contract,” Titans general manager Ruston Webster said in a statement.
The apparent issue throughout the contract talks has been whether or not to include offset language. The contract signed today includes a compromise with partial offsets, according to Albert Breer of NFL.com.
Such language allows the Titans to recollect some guaranteed money if they release Mariota while he’s under contract. Mariota would be able to receive the guaranteed money from the Titans as well as any other team he would sign with had the language not been included.
Past top quarterbacks in the draft — Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Blake Bortles — all signed deals without offset language.
Jameis Winston, the 1st overall pick in the draft, signed a deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on May 1 that included the language.
“We were confident that Marcus would be under contract before training camp, and we look forward to seeing him start his career on time,” Webster said.
The Titans begin training camp on July 31. Mariota’s first regular-season NFL game will take place on Sept. 13 against Winston and the Buccaneers.
Follow Jack Heffernan on Twitter @JackTHeffernan