Adam Schefter: Buccaneers have sights set on Marcus Mariota

After Chris Mortensen came out to say that the stars are aligned for the BUcs to take Marcus Mariota, now Adam Schefter is saying there's a "sense" that the Bucs have their "sights set on Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota."

As I keep saying in these kinds of articles, at this point everyone is probably just guessing. Schefter doesn't cite any team sources, just a generalized feeling, presumably from people around the league. And he also notes that many team executives believe Jameis Winston is actually the better quarterback -- so it will all come down to his off-field issues.

It is interesting that Pewter Report and Gil Arcia, both local outlets, have repeatedly claimed that the Bucs are leaning towards Jameis Winston, while national reports seem to come down on the side of Marcus Mariota. This front office is really good at creating confusion and throwing up smokescreens, as they did last year when reports that they were interested in Johnny Manziel kept surfacing. It's draft season: trust nothing.

So why would the Bucs be trying to sow confusion with the top pick? Either to drum up trade interest, or just out of a longstanding habit of annoying reporters.