The Tennessee Titans are putting all of their 2014 eggs in the Jake Locker basket. The team might not have any faith in the quarterback beyond the upcoming season, but for now he is their "guy". While questions still remain about whether or not Locker will be healthy enough to start the season after a Lisfran injury, the Titans have zero plans to draft a quarterback come May. Will the plan backfire?
According to Locker, he is ahead of schedule in his recovery. The quarterback is officially out of his walking boot he was sporting for the last four months and according to Locker, he is responding well and doing more than anyone thought he would at this stage.
"Being able to put explosive force on it, to kind of jump back and forth and lunge back and forth, was something we thought we wouldn't get into until the end of this week or next and we were able to do it last week," Locker said, via ESPN.com. "Not only we were able to do it, but the foot wasn't sore to the point where I couldn't do anything the next day. It's responded really well day after day to the treatment that we've done."
That is good news for Ken Whisenhunt who continues to say he has total faith in Locker returning as a quality starting quarterback for the Titans. The team is unlikely to pick up his fifth-year contract option, but they will let him play out a one-year audition to remain with the team in the future.
"You're paid to play this game, you've got to be productive and you've got to play," Whisenhunt said. "I think we all understand that. Certainly that position with Jake, you want to have stability, you want to have someone you know can do that. Jake is going to have the opportunity to show he can do that."
The issue is that right now, the Titans do not appear to be planning for the future if Locker does not show them what they are hoping for. Assumed to be taking a quarterback in a late round come May, Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean reports the Titans have no plans of drafting a quarterback and denies the idea that they love former LSU star Zach Mettenberger. Could that change come May? Of course, but now Whisenhunt and company will continue to say that Locker is the best quarterback for the job and they have no interest in anyone else.
