A lot of people were surprised when the Tennessee Titans selected University of Washington quarterback Jake Locker eighth overall in the recent NFL draft, including Locker himself. This is because the majority of fans didn’t rank the quarterback as highly as most sportswriters and scouts.
And by the looks of it, the 22-year-old Locker didn’t rank himself as a first-rounder either, even after working out privately for the Titans. Locker has a pretty strong arm, but overall he’s unpolished and was likely overrated due to so many NFL teams looking for a field general. Locker probably would have been a mid-round draft pick if it was a stronger class or a second-rounder at best, but that’s not really his fault.
The lockout may have also had something to do with his selection and the fact that Andrew Luck decided to stay in college. Locker does have an upside though, but it could be a few years before he reaches his full potential. He’s got a strong arm, but finds it hard to hit his receivers deep down the sidelines.
His college stats weren’t the best either as he threw less than 70 yards four times in his senior year with one of them being a bowl game. He also threw for more than one touchdown in a game just three times. However, supporters of Locker point to subpar teammates as the reason for some of his poor performances.
He definitely lacks the skills to step into the NFL right away and should be brought along slowly so he can learn the pro game and develop at his own natural pace. But one of the problems with Locker is that he actually took a step backward as a senior and instead of improving he could actually get worse. If he’s forced to play for a poor team the odds are he’s going to be sacked and intercepted on a regular basis and that could basically destroy his confidence.
Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert was chosen two picks after Locker when the Jacksonville Jaguars scooped him up. In fact, they liked him so much they drafted up six spots with Washington so they could get him. This was also a bit of a shock to many fans as they considered Gabbert to be a better choice than Locker and he was ranked as number one overall by some.
The 21-year-old played college ball at the University of Missouri and showed a lot of natural athletic with a tremendous upside. He’s very accurate with his short passes and quite good at the intermediate pass, but seems to have a problem when going deep. Gabbert’s arm strength is also above average and shows good leadership qualities and intangibles.
The transition to the NFL is going to be pretty tough for him though as he played spread offense in school. He’s going to have to get used to taking snaps from under center as well as reading defenses while he’s dropping into the pocket. He’ll also have to be able to identify opposition defenses while under center instead of from the shotgun view.
Like Locker, Gabbert was also overrated in the draft. But he seems to have more of an upside and even though he went a couple of picks later, could turn out to be the better player in the pros.
