NFL Draft Trade Rumors: Browns looking for Marcus Mariota?

We're getting closer and closer to the draft, and that apparently means we're going to see more and more trade rumors. The latest, and something that's been bandied around before, is that the Cleveland Browns could be looking to trade up for Marcus Mariota.

(cont) ... Mariota has been doing QB drills with Kevin O'Connell since mid-January. O'Connell will join the Browns staff as QBs coach soon.

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) February 10, 2015

The Browns have two first-round picks at numbers 12 and 19, so they certainly have some ammunition to pull off a trade-up. A few days ago, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report noted that the Browns would give very strong consideration to trading up for a quarterback, citing sources in the organization -- which is not very definite, but it's not just pure speculation.

Adding some more fuel to the fire, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio speculated on PFT Live yesterday that there was some tension in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers front office over trading down, claiming that Lovie Smith would want to trade down while Jason Licht would want to take that quarterback (h/t JoeBucsFan). After all, Smith seems to believe you can win with journeyman quarterbacks like Josh McCown.

Tension and debate is natural and healthy, and Lovie Smith and Jason Licht have made it clear that convincing the other person of their point of view is a crucial part of their working relationship. While Licht officially has final say on the team's draft picks, he's also consistently said he would not make any decisions that weren't supported by Lovie Smith -- which implies that if Lovie Smith really doesn't want either quarterback, the Bucs aren't getting any of them.

Which means essentially that the Bucs are going to have to be unanimous about their support for a quarterback if they're going to pick him first overall.

So far, this is little more than speculation. But a trade down really isn't out of the question.