Will this move hurt Locker?

Locker probably took big pay cut

“Great athlete for the position with tools and intangibles, but he’s as green as grass and must be developed into an NFL passer with accuracy being the key. Unless he gets to work with a really good QB coach, he could be a major disappointment.”

That’s from the Pro Football Weekly 1993 Draft Preview analyzing Notre Dame quarterback Rick Mirer, who was taken second overall by the Seattle Seahawks. Apply the same thing to Washington’s Jake Locker.

There’s a difference between being ready to play in the NFL and going to the NFL. Locker can’t throw, and that could be a wee bit of an issue at the next level. He’s a bigger, much faster Mirer who completed 58% of his passes this year for 2,800 yards and 21 touchdowns with 11 picks. For his career he has completed just 53% of his passes with 36 touchdowns and 26 interceptions. While he’s very fast and he’s a great runner, that only matters in the pros if there’s throwing touch added into the mix. But if you’re projected to be a first-round pick, and possibly even top five, then you go to the NFL and you get paid millions and millions of dollars to let the professionals teach you. You don’t come back for another year so you can eat pizza with the guys.

More importantly, Locker might be making a Shelly Long-like career move. While there’s a chance the NFL takes a while to get its act together and enforces a rookie salary cap for the 2012 NFL Draft, the odds are 50/50 that a cap might kick in for the 2011 Draft. That means the $40 million contract that Locker could sign in April might be worth less than $10 million in two years. Don’t look at this like a superfan or like someone who misses being back in college. This is big business and Locker could be making a mistake that’s even bigger than Sam Bradford’s ill-advised decision to return for one more year.

If you want to be a football player, then be a football player and do it at the highest level. And if you’re going to be a professional football player, then go do it and get paid. I’m glad he’s back as a college football fan, but he might have just taken a really, really big pay cut. -- Pete Fiutak

 

Sarkisian's guidance will help

Wow.

Had you been reading the tea leaves on Jake Locker’s future, surely he’d be leaving early for the NFL Draft, right? A projected first rounder, with a history for getting banged up, he’d be nuts to stick around and possibly be subjected to a rookie salary cap in 2011. Uh-uh. Rarely one to do the conventional, the junior stunned just about everyone by declaring that he’d be back in Seattle for one more season. Yippee.

For U-Dub, that means one more year in Steve Sarkisian’s passer-friendly offense. One more year to grow alongside a young and upwardly-mobile supporting cast that includes RB Chris Polk, TE Kavario Middleton, and receivers Jermaine Kearse, Devin Aguilar, and James Johnson. And one gigantic opportunity to climb above .500 for the first time since 2002 and actually contend for the Pac-10 title. Locker is that important to what Sarkisian and his assistants are trying to do with the program. His return will have a ripple effect that continues into signing day, spring ball, and the start of another season.

In the Huskies’ final game of 2009, the offense delivered its sharpest performance of the year, rushing for 177 yards and three scores and passing for 286 yards and three scores in an improbable 42-10 rout of Cal. What appeared to be the final chapter for Locker in Washington on that afternoon actually wound up being the beginning of something special that’s going to trickle into the 2010 season. With him back behind center, Washington has all the parts to be fantastic on offense, and make the quantum leap it’s been after for the better part of the decade. For a school that’s failed miserably to rekindle the glory days when Don James was calling the shots, this is better news than any December bowl invitation could have provided. -- Richard Cirminiello

 

Locker needs senior season

1) Let’s provide a reality check for those who think this is a shortsighted and unenlightened move by Mr. Locker: A month ago, Washington was 3-7 and wallowing in misery. Locker is gifted, without question, but the young man – who missed most of the 2008 season and was still trying to get comfortable under center as his 2009 campaign progressed – looked like a distinctly unfinished product over the past few months. He showed considerable composure in a September upset of USC, but Locker didn’t sustain that form in October and November. Beating Washington State and an unmotivated Cal crew for a 5-7 mark should not lead observers to conclude that Locker is ready for the pros. Oh, by the way, anyone else notice how NFL defensive coordinators quickly adjusted to Mark Sanchez, another quarterback who displayed questionable in-game decision making for much of his 2008 season at USC? Locker needs another year of Steve Sarkisian’s tutelage, against an imposing schedule… at least, that is, if he wants to be a great NFL quarterback.

2) To encapsulate the challenge (and the opportunity) in front of Jake Locker, look at his Washington career this way: In 2007, his freshman year, Locker ran wild and rolled up big numbers in freewheeling shootouts his team lost because of a deficient defense. The 2008 sophomore season was a bust because of injuries, and in 2009, Locker tried really hard – often too hard – to be a pocket passer. The hyped Husky needs a senior season in Seattle because he needs to be able to combine his dynamic athleticism with increased wisdom in the pocket. If Locker can turn this trick, he’ll lay the foundation for an NFL career that will be far more successful than it would have been if he had bolted for the pros as a junior. -- Matt Zemek

 

He's no Sam Bradford

On first glance, it’s tempting to compare Jake Locker’s decision to return to Washington for his senior year to Sam Bradford’s ill-fated choice to be an Oklahoma Sooner in 2009, rather than being a top-five (or top one) NFL pick. Locker is taking the same chance Bradford is by eschewing an opportunity to be in the upper reaches of the 2010 NFL Draft for another year of college ball and the very real (ask Bradford) risk of serious injury. After Bradford’s shoulder troubles this year, few thought any top-flight NFL prospect would stick around campus and risk torpedoing their professional careers. But Locker’s choice is a good one.

Even though he would clearly be a first-round choice and probably a top-10 pick (ESPN’s Todd McShay had him as the first pick overall), Locker needs more time. He completed a solid but unspectacular 58.4% of his throws this year and has connected on only 53.4% during his career. Locker just switched to a pro-style offense this year under new coach Steve Sarkisian and needs more exposure to that style of play. It’s nice that Locker wants to help Washington continue its rebuilding process and move forward, but this decision, while partially about the Huskies, will be more beneficial to the QB himself, even though he takes a chance by coming back, especially since he missed eight games in ’08 with a busted thumb. But the reward is greater, since the training and experience he receives in 2010 will position him for a spot perhaps at the top of the Draft and a chance at a more productive professional career. -- Michael Bradley