A Draft Bust Everyone Forgets: Jake Locker

breaking news has to do with the Titans and quarterback Jake Locker the 26 year old quarterback announced he's retiring the number eight overall draft pick in 2011. think about that retiring from football at the age of 26. after just four seasons in the NFL rather than explore free agency in a statement the QB said football has always played a pivotal role in my life but I no longer have the burning desire necessary to play the game for a living after just four years the number eight overall pick of the 2011 Draft walked away from the NFL citing that he didn't have a burning desire to play ball anymore in the real world if we're talking about desire and burning and ball probably an STD but in the NFL TDS disappear instead of emerge if burning isn't there this quarterback was not a typical bust his career was not marked by abject failure but rather missed opportunities injuries and a lackluster Supporting Cast in addition to underperforming he could have had a long career but he shocked everyone when he suddenly retired just before he was due to sign a lucrative second contract I'm talking of course about Tom Brady God I wish that were true we're going balls deep on one of the League's most mysterious busts hell most mysterious players Jake Locker [Music] [Music] Please Subscribe here today's episode is sponsored by SeatGeek and I'm really excited to use SeatGeek to see one of my all-time favorite stand-up comedians this month David Cross who will be here in Denver with Broncos head coach Sean Payton two of my favorite worlds oh that's Sean Patton close the nuggets are hot right now so if you're looking for NBA tickets use seat geek March Madness is here and I suggest using seat geek the number one rated ticketing app to get your tickets of course the green dots in the app let you know when a ticket uh is a good deal and XFL tickets are incredibly affordable of spring football excites you plus every ticket is backed by seepgeek's buyer guarantee and it's the only site that lets you return your tickets ahead of the event with swap so use my code that's good and you're gonna get 20 off your first purchase Link in the description Jake Locker was supposed to be the savior of the University of Washington's floundering football program at Ferndale high school locker had led the team to a 3A State title victory in the state of Washington Locker was one of the top ranked dual threat quarterbacks in the nation and really could have gone to just about any School on the map but he chose to stay home Ferndale also the hometown of Jaguar's head coach Doug Peterson is located on the Nooksack River in Northwest Washington not far from UW in Seattle I mostly mentioned that because I wanted to say Nook sack Nook sack Nooksack surprisingly is not an STD now Locker was also a talented outfielder at Ferndale and as a senior in high school became a 40th round pick by the Los Angeles Angels in the 2006 MLB draft but he was going to play football damn what if he did play for the Angels though and what if he was really good and what if they had passed on Mike Trout as a result they probably would have missed the playoffs for the last eight years all right I'm sorry uh that was uncalled for I really don't even care about baseball unless I'm using it to reference how far I didn't get with a girl what's what's worse than striking out you know I may not have had sex but I could [ __ ] you up now to say Washington's football team was bad is an understatement the Huskies had won just three games in the two years leading up to Locker's arrival in 2006 for an NFL comp it would be like watching a super talented QB actually choose to play for the Cleveland Browns and not have 26 sexual misconduct lawsuits hanging over your head Locker definitely knew what he was getting himself into but becoming the hometown hero was going to include a lot of ups and downs in 2008 they were all Downs the Huskies managed to finish the season with an 0-12 record they almost beat BYU in week two but after Jake Locker scored what appeared to be the game-tying touchdown with three seconds left in regulation he tossed the football into the air excited that he had just nodded up the game in such dramatic fashion the ref then flagged him for unsportsmanlike conduct for presumably chucking said ball into the air remember though this game was against BYU and I have it on pretty good authority that Jake yelled Joseph Smith was a lying troll as he threw that ball into the air The Book of Mormon says a lot of strange stuff like that Adam and Eve lived in Jackson County Missouri the NCAA at the time was cracking down on celebrations and blasphemy for any religion and Locker was made an unfortunate example of when the Huskies were pushed back 15 yards on the extra point which of course was no good now I bring up that specific moment to point out that this kid as Noble as he was and trying to fix his hometown school did not set himself up for Success there is such a thing as being too loyal and not taking advantage of better opportunities he got beat up at Washington but despite a subpar Supporting Cast was a Dave the O'Brien Awards semi-finalist and may have very well been picked number one overall if he had come out in the 2010 draft well at least according to Todd McShay at the time even after he decided to return for another year melk Kuiper predicted he'd go first overall in 2011. so Locker returned for a fifth year at Washington leading his team to a holiday ball victory over heavily favored Nebraska and threw his hat in the ring uh with a 2011 Draft class that included Cam Newton Blaine gabert and Christian Ponder Locker's numbers declined though across the board in his fifth season and there was some talk of him becoming a second or third round selection and what is now just a very bizarre quarterback draft still he had the tools save for one here's what Mel Kuiper said about Jake Locker in the lead up to the 2011 Draft as we've said before Locker has a big time arm a great attitude Elite athleticism for the position but as unfortunately lacked accuracy the one trait most of us believe is the most innate well with hindsight and the Beautiful metamorphosis of Josh Allen behind us it's fair to say now that accuracy is not the innate skill that Mel believed it to be now I think it's widely accepted that accuracy can be drastically improved via coaching but that was really the prevailing sentiment back in 2011 if you were not born accurate you would never become accurate when the Tennessee Titans were on the clock with the eighth overall pick they had Hall of Famers just exiting The Green Room with guys like Cam Newton Von Miller AJ Green Pat Pete and Julio Jones going before locker and Hall of Famers still patiently waiting to hear their names called all of the top seven players would make at least a pro bowl uh picks 9 and 11 are Hall of Famers in Waiting Tyron Smith and JJ Watt but the Titans needed a QB after five years they had finally let go of 2006 Rookie of the Year and Madden cover boy Vince Young Who had put together a very roller coaster type career in Tennessee and left in free agency to back up Michael Vick in Philadelphia Vince Young ditched the roller coaster for a very safe seat that the dog fighting ring the good news lockers number 10 was now available and so was a backup quarterback job behind veteran Matt Hasselbeck and the notoriously cheap Titans didn't even have to put his name plate on his locker because it already said Locker you knew I was going to make that joke at some point now 2011 was Mike munchak's first year as the team's head coach so Jake Locker just missed the Jeff Fisher perfect mustache era and was about eight years too early for the micrable perfect mustache era so essentially Locker missed on one of two very fun mustache rides now it wasn't until a Matt Hasselbeck injury in November at Atlanta that Jake Locker would get his first real action Hasselbeck strained his elbow presumably from throwing Campbell's Soup cans at his mom in those old commercials I like those noodles huh I can't it's got the goods okay maybe that one was Bow Wow but I swear to God Hasselbeck did it too now Locker in his first NFL action at the Georgia Dome through his first two NFL TD passes to a very appropriately named Target Nate Washington huh it wasn't enough to dig Tennessee out of the hole in that game though it didn't help that the Titans had one of the worst rushing attacks in the league at the time as well Chris Johnson AKA cj2k had fewer rushing yards 13 in that game than Matt Hasselbeck at 17. Chris Johnson was in his fourth season and even though he eventually broke a thousand yards it was the first time he looked human in the NFL the Titans had been in contention with Hasselbeck at the helm so they didn't just hand the job over to the rookie despite a solid showing in relief of the veteran but whether it was Hasselbeck or Locker the Titans weren't exactly loaded at the receiver position uh Chris Johnson stepped back in production was made much more noticeable as Javon Ringer the running back behind him only managed 185 yards on the season and 28 year old Nate Washington was Far and Away the top dog in a receiving core that included names like Mark Mariani Donnie Avery Kenny Britt who only played in three games and Damien Williams no not the one who won Super Bowl 54 for the Chiefs ultimately that Titans team missed the playoffs despite Fielding the eighth best defense in the league probably because they finished bottom three in rushing both in terms of volume and efficiency just 1427 yards on the season with Locker finishing as the team's third leading rusher with a whopping 56 yards Tennessee really made great use of Locker's skills as as a dual threat didn't they with that in mind it was probably a good thing that Locker didn't start a game that season though he did toss four touchdowns and no picks in 66 attempts still in a limited sample size Locker completed just 51 percent of his passes which didn't exactly prove the critics wrong in year one but the eighth overall pick was about to get a real shot at the starting job and 20.12 beating out Hasselback in Camp after Hasselback suffered a nasty case of botulism after his Campbell's Soup deal ended and he tried canning his own foods that aside Locker really did earn the job fair and square as it turned out though Locker would start just 18 games over the next two seasons there were some memorable moments with Locker Under Center games like a 44-41 overtime win over the Lions and lockers third start where the sophomore QB through uh two touchdowns for 378 yards uh Locker was clutch on the first possession of overtime hitting a couple big throws that got the Titans into Chip Shot range for what would become the game-winning field goal and if you go back and watch that game it's actually one of the craziest finishes you'll ever see the Lions scored two touchdowns in the final 18 seconds uh to send the game into OT both teams scored three touchdowns each in the fourth quarter there was 105 yard kick returned for a TD by Darius uh Renaud locker and Nate Washington connected on a 71-yard tug which was followed by a 72-yard scoop in score by the Titans defense and [ __ ] Matthew Stafford gets hurt in the fourth quarter and Sean Hill comes in was the guy who uh tossed those two touchdown passes in 18 seconds God that might need a video Sean he'll finish that game 10-13 with two TDS and a near perfect faster rating in an OT loss numbers may not lie but sometimes they really really hurt unfortunately Locker was unable to build any sort of a rhythm or momentum from that win it seemed like every time he was starting to figure it out an injury derailed his progress in 2012 it was a tear to his non-throwing shoulder that sidelined him just a week after that fantastic performance against the Lions a game like that if you believe in momentum in sports is the kind of game that can ignite a young QB's career or at least a great season gives him the confidence to just go out there and play trust in his athletic abilities and sling it a year later a hip injury and a Liz Frank injury meant Locker only started seven games going four uh and three the injuries pretty much forced the Titans to decline fine Locker's fifth year option making 2014 a make or break season for the now fourth year QB in his first game under new head coach Ken Whisenhunt it looked like Locker had figured it out beating the Kansas City Chiefs with a pair of touchdown passes and a turnover free performance in a 26-10 decisive stopping of those [ __ ] [ __ ] Chiefs but a week later he fell back to Earth in a loss to Dallas and seven days later stop me if you've heard this one before Locker got hurt this time busting his wrist if only Jake knew you use your wrist to bust not the other way around that magnificent game against the Lions would be the best game of his short NFL career he was only able to throw more than two TDS in a game once in his 23 career starts there was the wrist his right thumb and eventually a shoulder injury that landed him on season ending IR but when he was healthy Locker was also ineffective although that's not particularly surprising for a team that won just two games the Titans bench Locker in favor of sixth round quarterback Zach Mettenberger who looked like the best option for a team that was destined to draft another quarterback with the second overall pick that they had thoroughly earned God I hope that guy worked out for them and whoever that guy was I bet he too could beat the Chiefs Mariota Mariota to the line of scrimmage maybe across the line it deflects back to him for a touchdown for the moment now the writing was on the wall Jake Locker would not be returning to the Music City after four years his final numbers in Tennessee weren't particularly impressive but it's also true that he never had a pro bowl skill player to throw to and his rushing attack was only better than average for one of his years as a starter he played in 11 games in 2012 and only managed 10 touchdowns to 11 picks and just one rushing TD the dead horse I love to beat for failed rookie QBs drafted high is the marriage between them and the head coach Mike Munchak wasn't the worst coach in the league and since leaving Tennessee in 2013 he's been one of the best offensive line coaches in all of football like Locker his downfall may have been loyalty his offensive coordinator there's Chris Palmer and Dowell Loggins weren't going to be creative enough to utilize all of locker skills to help make up for some of his passing deficiencies as he tried to grow as a QB and their careers ended shortly after as well Munchak played his entire 12-year career with the Houston Oilers joined them one year after retiring as a coach followed them from Houston to Tennessee at 30 years with the organization before he was fired and he was fired because he refused to let go of at least six coaches on his staff that the GM wanted gone to me Locker may have thrived with more modern offensive schemes that aren't scared to lean into a QB's ability to run but it didn't seem like Munchak was willing to bring in those Minds as coordinators in comparison lockers numbers are better than other notable busts like Ryan Leaf JaMarcus Russell Josh Rosen and yes my packs Lynch Locker could have made another 10 million dollars if he had signed a second contract in the NFL instead he decided to walk away altogether which I really respect in 2018 a profile piece with Sports Illustrated revealed that Locker had turned to drinking at the University of Washington to cope with the pressure of playing at the University of Washington and being the team's new Savior and that habit had followed Locker to the NFL he also struggled with the concept of work-life balance and one of the most demanding jobs in sports when he had his first child Locker realized that her baptism that he would be happy without football and he did not need it to feel fulfilled basically he's the anti-tom Brady if you will his former teammate Matt Hasselback told si in that interview that Jake loved football he just didn't love being in the NFL in addition to the pressure of being an NFL quarter back and the time that that took away from being with his young family really my wife and and my child and these things almost at times seemed to feel like they were in conflict with these other responsibilities that I came into the league seeing and understanding Locker didn't feel comfortable being a liaison and a subject for the media he's lucky he was in Tennessee where that part of the game would be minimal compared to playing in a place like New York City or Dallas or what the NFL thinks La is but totally is not instead of moving onto a new team like the Eagles or Colts who were both interested in locker he returned to his hometown in Washington and used his NFL money to build a simpler life raising cattle hunting writing about Theology and being a dad the exact same thing I intend to do when I retire but always pigeons kill bugs with pesticides at an alarming rate right erotic fiction for aging women and of course be a good dad that's the Jake Locker story if you got suggestions for other players you'd like to see in the Forgotten bust series please let me know in the comments subscribe here on YouTube and uh check out the Tebow episode if you haven't already

Channel: ThatsGoodSports

Views: 246,030

Keywords: Forgotten NFL Bust: Jake Locker, Jake Locker, Jake Locker career, Jake Locker retirement, Bust, NFL draft, nfl draft bust, locker, titans, tennessee titans, Jake Locker Titans Draft, Quarterback, quarterback bust, QB Bust, NFL News, NFL, That’s Good Sports, Thatsgoodsports, Brandon Perna, NFL deep dive

Id: Uxq22d5JQtI

Length: 20min 33sec (1233 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 05 2023