The trend in recent years has been for the top draft-eligible quarterback prospects to skip the throwing portion of the NFL Scouting Combine and save their arm auditions for their pro day later in the pre-draft process.

But 2015’s top two QB prospects appear primed to buck that trend.

Reports from ESPN’s Chris Mortensen and NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport late Tuesday indicated that both Marcus Mariota of Oregon and Jameis Winston of Florida State will throw for scouts at the combine. The two players are the consensus top two quarterbacks in the draft, but questions remain about how each will transition from the college game to the NFL. Both players are apparently ready to answer some of those questions this weekend in Indianapolis.

Mariota, the 2015 Heisman Trophy winner, starred in his junior season at Oregon, completing better than 68 percent of his passes for 4,454 yards and 42 touchdowns, against just four interceptions. He also rushed for 770 yards and 15 more touchdowns while leading the Ducks to the National Championship Game. But scouts still wonder how effectively Mariota’s skillset will translate from Oregon’s spread offense to pro-style NFL offenses.

The murmurs about Mariota’s perceived weaknesses got louder after the quarterback was somewhat limited by Ohio State’s defense in Oregon’s National Championship loss, and his draft stock has fallen somewhat since. He can put some of those questions to bed and perhaps reinvigorate his stock with a strong throwing performance at the combine. However, there is risk involved for Mariota, and a bad combine showing could further submarine his standing with quarterback-needy teams, of which there are plenty at the top of the draft.

The same risk exists for Winston, though he is transitioning from a Florida State offense that seemingly has him better prepared to play at the next level. After a freshman campaign at FSU in 2013-14 during which he earned the Heisman and led the Seminoles to an undefeated season and a National Championship, Winston couldn’t quite duplicate that success as a sophomore, neither individually or for Florida State as a team.

He completed 65 percent of his passes for 3,907 yards and 25 touchdowns against 18 interceptions for the Noles in 2014, after topping 4,000 yards and throwing 40 touchdowns against just 10 interceptions in his 2013 freshman season. Despite the drop-off, Winston still led the Seminoles to an undefeated regular season before they ran into Mariota’s Ducks in the first round of the college football playoff. The two players posted similar passing statistics in the head-to-head matchup, though Mariota was more effective on the ground while Winston was pressured and sacked several times by the relentless Oregon defensive front in the loss.

Still, many believe Winston is the quarterback better suited for the NFL, a claim he can bolster with a strong combine performance. The louder questions about Winston have to do with his character and he’ll have to answer plenty of them at the combine, whether he throws or not. Perhaps he is hoping to “wow” scouts with his on-field performance to take some of the pressure off his meetings with teams throughout the weekend.

Regardless of either player’s reasons for deciding to throw, the fact that both are should make for an even bigger spectacle at the combine, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and others take the first step toward deciding which player they prefer. Quarterbacks are scheduled to throw on Saturday in Indianapolis.

NO TAGS YET, BUT NFC EAST RIVALS COULD BE FIRST UP

Monday marked the beginning of the NFL’s annual franchise tag window period that precedes free agency and while no franchise has moved to use the tag yet, two NFC East teams appear to be on the verge of doing so.

A report in the New York Post on Tuesday indicated that if the New York Giants are unable to work out a long-term contract agreement with defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul before the franchise tag deadline, they will place the non-exclusive franchise tag on the star pass rusher. Doing so would allow Pierre-Paul to negotiate with other teams, but it would give the Giants the right to match any offer, or receive a pair of first round picks if they choose not to.

Pierre-Paul, who was drafted 15th overall by New York in 2010, is coming off a bounce back 2014 campaign in which he finished eighth in the NFL in sacks with 12.5. The defensive end, who will turn 26 later this month, has 42 career sacks in five NFL seasons and answered questions about his durability in 2014 by playing all 16 games after missing five games and finishing with just two sacks in an injury plagued 2013 campaign.

Franchise tagged player salaries for the 2015 season have not yet been determined, but the salary for a tagged defensive end is expected to exceed $15 million for the season. Tagging Pierre-Paul could be a means to an end for the Giants, as it would allow them to continue negotiating a long-term deal with him, with little fear of him being lured away by another team.

Pierre-Paul is seeking a multi-year contract and would be one of the top defensive players on the market should he hit free agency, but he expressed a desire to remain “a Giant for life” after the season ended.

Similar sentiments have been expressed by Dallas Cowboys star receiver Dez Bryant in regard to being a Cowboy for life, and the Cowboys have been negotiating to keep Bryant in Dallas long-term since last offseason. But the two sides have yet to come close to an agreement on a long-term contract and the Cowboys also appear close to franchise tagging Bryant in order to, at the very least, extend their negotiating window.

The Dallas Morning News reported on Tuesday that the Cowboys have yet to meet with Bryant’s new agent, Tom Condon of Roc Nation Sports and CAA, since Bryant changed his representation in the middle of the 2014 season. Jones told the paper that, as of this moment, it appears likely the team will tag Bryant before the March 2 deadline.

“Right now all things being equal, it’s leaning more Dez with the franchise than it is not. But that doesn’t mean it will stay that way,” Jones said. “We don’t ever want to give up on a long-term deal. It’s something we worked on all of last year and it kind of cooled off once we got into the season. We’ll continue to see what our options are and things happen quickly as you go along. Things can go along with a lot not going on, but all of a sudden it happens.”

The Cowboys traded up to draft Bryant 24th overall in the 2010 draft and the star wideout has been one of the game’s premier receivers ever since. Last season, Bryant was named First Team All-Pro for the first time in his career and made his second consecutive Pro Bowl after hauling in 88 passes for 1,320 yards and a NFL best 16 touchdowns. Since Bryant entered the league in 2010, no receiver has more touchdown catches than his 56.

A franchise tag one-year contract would likely pay Bryant more than $13 million in 2015, but the receiver is seeking a long-term commitment with a substantially large amount of guaranteed money. So far, the Cowboys appear hesitant to pony up the long-term contract in excess of $100 million over several years that Bryant seeks.

Reports have cited Bryant’s past transgressions as a possible reason why Dallas might resist making a long-term commitment to the star receiver, but it should be noted that Bryant has not had any run-ins with the law in several seasons and, with the help of the Cowboys, appears to have cleaned up his act after a rocky start to his career.

Bryant took to Twitter on Tuesday to vent some of his frustration with the ongoing negotiations, in response to a fan who noted his commitment to the Cowboys.

I wish They felt the same way but it’s cool.. It’s #business RT @FrankyGonzalez3: I love how dedicated @DezBryant is to the @dallascowboys

— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) February 17, 2015

While Bryant’s frustration is understandable, public grandstanding on social media is probably not going to do him any favors as the Cowboys decide how much and for how long they want to pay him.

KUBIAK EXPECTS MANNING TO RETURN

The abrupt and disappointing end to the Denver Broncos season after just one playoff game sparked rounds of speculation that future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning may hang up his cleats after 17 seasons in the league. But recent reports indicate Manning is close to announcing his return for at least one more go-around with the Broncos.

First came the report last week from ESPN’s Chris Mortensen that Manning wants to return for an 18th NFL season, and that he wants to do so for a fourth season with Denver. Then on Tuesday new Broncos coach Gary Kubiak told Mike Klis of the Denver Post that he expects Manning to be back with the Broncos for the 2015 season and that he is operating under the assumption that will be the case.

“I’m expecting him to come back,” Kubiak said. “We want to play with him. This organization has won a lot of games with him and we want to get back and do it again. Expecting him to come back.”

After leading Denver to Super Bowl XLVIII, only to get blown out in dominant and embarrassing fashion by the Seattle Seahawks, Manning entered the 2014 season on a mission to get back to the pinnacle and this time help the Broncos get over the hump. But after a promising start to the season, during which he looked as strong as ever, Manning’s performance tailed off sharply toward the end of the season. Denver kept winning and wound up clinching the No. 2 seed in the AFC, but it was clear something was off with Manning.

His late season tailspin came to a head in the playoffs, when he threw for just 211 yards and one touchdown in a 24-13 divisional round loss to the Indianapolis Colts that swiftly ended Denver’s title quest. After the season, it was reported that the thigh injury Manning had been dealing with for the final month of the season was actually a torn quad, which may have explained his poor performance over the final few games and in the postseason.

In the days after that playoff loss, rumors swirled that Manning was ready to call it a career and he did nothing to silence them. But after letting the injury heal and then working out some earlier this month, it appears Manning believes he has something left in the tank.

Now comes the question of his price tag. The quarterback has two years left on his contract at a $21.5 million cap hit per season, and the Broncos desperately need to find money to retain a few of his favorite targets, wide receiver Demaryius Thomas and tight end Julius Thomas, as well as a few other key players on offense and defense. They’ll also surely attempt to obtain upgrades elsewhere to help them finish better than they did in 2014, so every bit of cap space they can clear will help.

With that in mind, Denver executive John Elway is expected to ask Manning to take a pay cut to ease the franchise’s financial burden and help them make moves to help him succeed. If Manning has truly decided to play in 2015 and balks at Elway’s request, the situation in Denver could quickly become the story of the offseason in the NFL.