Marcus Mariota to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? The "stars are aligned"

It's only been a few hours since the last Marcus Mariota update, so it's probably time for another one, right? Well, according to ESPN NFL Insider Chris Mortensen, the "stars are aligning" for the Oregon Ducks quarterback to be taken by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at pick No. 1 overall in the 2015 NFL Draft.

While you may be skeptical of Mortensen's astrology skills, his logic makes sense. Via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times (@gregauman):

"So @mortreport says on ESPN "stars are aligned" for Bucs to take Mariota, based on Koetter's Helfrich ties, Bajakian's spread history. Ah."

As Mortensen notes, Oregon coach Mark Helfrich worked under Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter at three schools.

So what's there to take out of this report? Probably not much. If the Buccaneers want Mariota, they're going to get him. They have the No. 1 pick and no one can stop them. But maybe a report like this isn't really designed to reveal Tampa Bay's truthful feelings about Mariota. This could be a leak designed to make other teams think the Buccaneers are drafting a quarterback. By doing this, Tampa Bay could be trying to create a trade market for their draft pick.

Though it would be a steep cost to trade up, one of those teams in desire of Mariota could be the Philadelphia Eagles. The Birds are reportedly "going to try" to move up for Kelly's college quarterback. One NFL scout suggested that the Kelly will mortgage the Eagles future in order to get Mariota.

But before getting too carried away, remember that there's still four months until the draft. Which means there's four more months of crazy rumors like this. And they won't be stopping any time soon.