Jake Locker Helps Draft Stock with Strong Washington Pro Day

Jake Locker joins Blaine Gabbert, Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick, and Ryan Mallett as one of the top quarterback prospects for this year’s NFL draft. The thing is with this group, unlike some other ones in past years where there was a consensus top quarterback or “sure thing,” every one of the the highly-rated quarterbacks have questions.

For Washington quarterback Jake Locker, accuracy has been his issue.

Locker never had more than a 58% completion rate at Washington and only completed 55% of his passes last season. He had an utter stinker against Nebraska where he went 4-20 and gave scouts concern. Even in a skills competition amongst the top quarterbacks, Locker struggled to hit his targets. But that was a gimmick, and what Locker needs to show is that he can play well in games.

He did just that at his Pro Day.

Throwing in Seattle at Washington’s Pro Day, Locker completed his first 35 passes and went 38-40. Though there is no defense or pass rush for the throws, that’s the type of performance he needed to prove to teams that he can make the throws consistently. He even said as much after the session according to Seattle Times reporter Bob Condotta who tweeted that “Locker says very happy how he threw. Best of the draft season he says.”

Even though Locker helped himself with the reportedly strong performance, I still would be hesitant to draft him. I know he had inferior talent surrounding him most of the time at Washington and that playing hurt made his stats look worse, but I still don’t have the confidence in him that he can make routine throws accurately on a regular basis. It’s awfully hard to sustain drives that way, even with a guy who can move like Jake.