Tennessee Titans: Could Locker’s Surgery Hinder Progress?

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Jake Locker having surgery yesterday on his injured shoulder could indeed hinder his progress for next season.

It was reported yesterday that Locker had surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder due to it being dislocated numerous times this season. By having the surgery, Locker hopes to have the shoulder tighter so it doesn’t pop out of socket anymore.

The downside to having this surgery is that the recovery time is 4-6 months, and the doctors would prefer that he rests it for 6 months to make sure absolutely everything is healed before he starts playing again. Doctors really don’t even want him going through practices in shorts due to the risk of hurting the shoulder.

So 6 months from now is July, the start of training camp, how could this surgery hinder his progress? Well, for a young QB that has accuracy problems, uncertainty at the OC position, and a developing relationship with his receivers, Locker needs to be throwing the ball as much as he possibly can during the off-season. He should be getting together with his receivers and working on your basic routes over and over again so he can build a report with his receivers heading into next season.

I think most would agree that Locker is not even kinda close to being a finished product heading into his third NFL season. With Locker at QB the Titans converted only 34% of third downs, he completed 56% of his passes and threw for 10 TDs and 11 Ints.

The offense stalled consistently while Locker was the QB due to many different reasons, the line, change at OC, drops by the receivers, and shaky QB play in general. That’s why it is extremely important for Locker to be able to have a full off-season to watch film, work with his receivers, work-out, and more importantly, THROW THE FOOTBALL!

Unfortunately none of that will happen this off-season due to the shoulder surgery. So what could have been done differently? Well, the coaches could have thought about the timeline it would have taken to heal and shut him down early in the season. Maybe they thought that playing was more important, and it may be, we don’t know yet, but not throwing the ball off-season can’t be a good thing.

Of course getting the shoulder fixed was priority #1 for Locker this off-season, but can the Titans really afford yet another season to evaluate Locker.

What say you?

Shawn Eagle

You can follow me on twitter @RS1Eagle