University of Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota has All-Pac-12 center Hroniss Grasu in front of him this season and, now, Lloyd’s of London behind him.

The Saint Louis School graduate is insuring his future with policies from the venerable 326-year-old insurance company, his family and insurance agent, Total Planning Sports Services, said Monday.

With as many as 15 games, hundreds of practices and a lot of defenders with hostile intent between him and the 2015 NFL Draft, Mariota will be protected financially in case of major injury or a sudden drop in draft stock due to injury. The policies began earlier this month, his mother, Alana, said.

While the family declined to disclose the amounts of his policies, the total is said to be "significant" and befitting someone who is projected as a high first-round draft pick by the NFL and draft prognosticators. Mel Kiper Jr. had forecast him as a "top-five" pick in the 2014 draft, before Mariota announced in December that he would return to Eugene for his redshirt junior year.

"(Most) of those guys you saw walking across the stage (at the NFL Draft) the other night had them and it doesn’t make sense for someone projected as high as Marcus is not to have one," said Keith Lerner, who has run Florida-based Total Planning Sports Services for more than a quarter of a century.

Lerner’s firm secured policies for two first-round picks — quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and linebacker Marcus Smith — this year and has had at least one first-rounder each of the past 15 years.

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck was insured under an NCAA policy option with a $5 million ceiling his final year. Lloyd’s will write policies up to $15 million, Lerner said.

Policies, however, don’t come cheap, running $8,000-$10,000 for each $1 million of coverage, Lerner said. "But it is a wise business decision."

For the Mariota family, "It was something we needed to do for peace of mind," Alana said.

There are two types of policies, Lerner said: career-ending disability and loss of value. The former provides financial security if Mariota is unable to play, whether through a football or other injury. "He would be protected even if he fell down the steps," Alana said.

The latter pays Mariota if he should plunge in the draft due to a significant, but not career-ending injury. "A good example would have been if what had happened to Marcus with his knee (last year) had caused him to drop in the draft from the first to the third round, he would have gotten paid," Alana said.

Mariota suffered a partial ligament sprain of his left knee late in the 2013 season that ended the Ducks’ title chances and cost Mariota his Heisman Trophy shot.

While the disability policy is to be paid for by Marcus through his NFL contract, the family reportedly took on the loss of value policy.

"If you don’t do it, you (might) regret it," Alana said. "If you do do it, then you just look at it as a significant deposit to … Las Vegas, I guess."

With a future like Mariota’s, there are dollars and, then, there is sense.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.