The draft is the perfect place for NFL predictions to go terribly wrong, and there were some who, prior to last year’s draft, thought that Washington’s Jake Locker would not only be the first quarterback taken, but the No.1 overall pick. A lackluster senior season may have been the worst thing for Locker’s stock, but it could end up being a blessing in disguise as he could end up in New England, learning from one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
Locker was named the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, along with a place on the Freshman All-American team, but a broken thumb derailed his sophomore campaign. His record over his final two seasons was 12-13, but to be honest, Locker didn’t have a lot of receiving weapons surrounding him at Washington. If it wasn’t for running back Chris Polk, Locker would have had a tougher time in Seattle. Also, injury problems made Locker more tentative to scramble out of the pocket after rushing for 986 yards as a freshman.
The Washington native struggled at the Senior Bowl, but he regained some fans at the combine, which proved that he was a better athlete than he showed in his last two seasons. But right now, it looks like Locker may fall to the second round, which would be great news for the New England Patriots, who are reportedly hosting Locker for two days in order to see if he has what it takes to make it in the NFL.
This could be the best thing to happen to Locker, who isn’t ready to start in the league at all, but with some grooming from the likes of Tom Brady, he could end up being a serviceable pivot. One thing he could definitely learn from Brady is to not let a drop in the draft bother him, as Brady slipped all the way to the sixth round of the 2000 draft when coming out of Michigan, and then he had to sit behind Drew Bledsoe. But when Bledsoe was hurt, Brady snagged his chance with both hands and hasn’t let it go since, leading the Patriots to three Super Bowls and a perfect regular season. Brady still has at least two to three good years left in him, and the Patriots have the 28th pick in the first round, their second in the first 32 selections. Don’t be surprised to see Locker ending up in New England
