Both Jake Locker and Blaine Gabbert to Sit Rookie Year?

I was going through my daily links and as I hit Rotoworld, I found some interesting nuggets…..including that we will have to wait to watch the young duo that should dominate the AFC South for the next 10 years.

While Gabbert sitting his first year remains the popular opinion all along, placing it as “not realistic” does change things. Jaguars QB David Garrard set the Jaguars single-season franchise record with 23 touchdowns in 2010, while improving to a career-best 64.5% completion record (except for 2003 when he didn’t start any games).

As Garrard was steadily improving, the Jaguars traded up to grab Gabbert, who many viewed as the top quarterback in 2011. Gabbert came from the spread-option offense in Missouri where he, like 2010 Rookie of the Year Sam Bradford, did not regularly take snaps from center. Can he come in and challenge Garrard? I can tell you that a large number of Jaguars fans would prefer it.

Kerry Collins reportedly will retire, or at the least he will seriously consider retiring. That leaves a giant question mark for the team when they examine their QB depth chart. Collins was the only veteran presence at the spot and if he did choose to retire, then QB Rusty Smith would have the most NFL experience. Smith played in two games last season as a rookie, while starting one, and came away with zero touchdowns, 4 interceptions and 200 yards passing.

Locker has been viewed by most as the  starter for the Titans in 2011, so it comes as a bit of a surprise that Locker would be viewed as the backup in his rookie year. Most know that Locker has had some issues with his accuracy, but that stems from a lack of talent while at Washington. I think the real issue is whether or not Locker can prove that the problem resided in those WR’s and the lack of protection from his disappointing offensive line.

I wasn’t aware that Reinfeldt said that, I’ll have to look into it. For now, I just wanted everyone to know.

Since you’re here, I’ll go ahead and tell you what I think. If one of the two of them has to sit, I say Gabbert should sit and gain experience in the pro style offense. However, I think it could only do Locker some good to sit in his rookie season. Locker could work on that accuracy and get used to his receivers and then the Titans could blow up the WR corps in 2012 by not re-signing WR Justin Gage and cutting WR Nate Washington.