One of the strangest storylines to come out of the 2022 NFL season involved Eagles backup QB Marcus Mariota and his benching/departure from the Atlanta Falcons. Mariota’s appearance in Netflix’s “Quarterbacks” docuseries gave the signal caller an opportunity to set the record straight.

With four games remaining and Atlanta finding themselves outside of the NFC playoff picture at 5-8, Mariota was benched in favor of rookie Desmond Ridder. The Eagles backup was average during his 13 starts last year, throwing 15 TDs to nine INTs while adding four TDs on the ground. The Falcons could have stuck with Mariota, but with his contract expiring at the end of the year and Ridder waiting in the wings, the move made sense at the time.

Once it happened, Mariota left the team. And at the time, the narrative pushed by the media was that the QB quit on his team because he was benched.

As it turns out, the media was completely wrong and decided to spin up a narrative for no reason other than generating views. Classic.

With Mariota being one of the stars of “Quarterbacks,” a behind the scenes look at the trials and tribulations of playing quarterback in the NFL, the topic of his departure was sure to be discussed.

“So, ultimately, it’s a long story, really,” the Eagles backup said in the series. “So, during the bye week, my daughter was born, Makaia. When she was born, Art (Arthur Smith) brought me in… the following day. It was, like, talking about the future and kind of what he wanted to do, and they told me that they were going to play Des for the last four games. Initially, he had said, ‘At this point and time in the year, the playoffs are a long shot, and we just kind of want to see what Des (Desmond Ridder) can do.'”

The Eagles signal caller later revealed he decided to get knee surgery after the benching, even though he never appeared on the team’s injury report. Head coach Arthur Smith was also interviewed during the series, and he claimed he and the Eagles QB never discussed getting surgery.

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“When he and I had that conversation, that’s not what we talked about,” Smith said. “Those are private conversations, but it was more about where we were as a team, and as a player, and what the future might hold.”

Even with these comments, it becomes pretty clear as the series continues that Smith was not angry with Mariota’s decision, or harbors any animosity towards him.

“I love Marcus; thankful that I got to spend more time with him,” Smith said. “People look at them, and they think they’re robots. They wear a helmet, that they’re these modern-day gladiators, but there’s life outside this building. He gave us everything he had.”

The Eagles QB also spoke about the ‘he quit on his team’ narrative directly, stating, “I don’t know why it had to be that narrative.”

“I gave everything I had for this team,” he continued. “I thought I was making a good decision for everybody. … Ultimately, we decided that getting my knee fixed was in the best interest. I came home, got my knee fixed and [have] been in Vegas.”

Looking back at the situation, it’s obviously easy for anyone to draw conclusions on what happened between Mariota and Atlanta from the outside looking in. But that’s not the job of the media. I mean, maybe today it is, but at its heart, the media isn’t supposed to just drum up a narrative without any knowledge of the situation. It’s pretty obvious that none of the national media pundits cared enough about the Falcons to do any investigating into the matter.

It’s a shitty spot for the Eagles backup to be in, but I’m glad he had the chance to tell his side of the story so everyone could draw their own conclusions. Now that it’s out there, it’s clear that the situation was completely overblown by media pundits.

On a side note, if you haven’t watched the “Quarterbacks” series yet, I highly recommend doing so; especially with football season right around the corner.

Kirk Cousins is one of the other stars of the show and I gotta say, I think I actually like him. He’s a total dork but he’s authentic about it and that’s all I really ask for. The show has also made me like Patrick Mahomes, even though as an Eagles fan, I want to hate him with every ounce of my being. What can I say, I like likable people.

Seriously, go give it a watch. Definitely worth your time.

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