Nate Washington gives Tennessee Titans fans a dose of nostalgia

Tennessee Titans fans take a quick trip down memory lane.

There isn’t much to remember fondly from the Tennessee Titans in the early 2010s, but I think all fans agree that Nate Washington was a treasure.

One of a small handful of Titans players to pass 1,000 yards with the team in the 2010s, Nate Washington was the definition of a professional. During his time with the Titans, he played through injuries and constantly exceeded the talent around him.

Speaking of talent, Washington never got to play with someone like Marcus Mariota or Ryan Tannehill (though I always wished he got one more chance with the Titans) and instead caught passes from great names like:

2009: Vince Young, Kerry Collins

2010: Rusty Smith

2011: Matt Hasselbeck, Jake Locker (alright, this group isn’t absolutely terrible)

2013: Ryan Fitzpatrick

2014: Charlie Whitehurst, Zach Mettenberger

To think that over that time Washington averaged over 750 yards per season in an offense that never really passed is absolutely astounding.

So, you can understand why people are skeptical when Washington shouts out one particular QB from his Titans day.

It has to be Hasselbeck…right?

#85 shared a screenshot of a text conversation between him and Jake Locker to show why sometimes you can be a fan of a person despite what happens on the field with them as a teammate.

https://twitter.com/nwash85/status/1265333094778843137

By all accounts, Jake Locker is a genuinely great guy who just decided that he couldn’t give his all to football anymore so he walked away. He had the talent to play in the league even if it wasn’t at a high level, but his athleticism was always going to make him an attractive backup somewhere.

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Locker is only a year older than Cam Newton and he is the same age as Ryan Tannehill, Matt Stafford, Kirk Cousins, and Russell Wilson. I’m not saying that to suggest that his age would make him valuable around the NFL, but it is important to remember that he had a lot in the tank when he walked away.

Are you telling me you can’t imagine a world where he has a Taysom Hill-like career somewhere as a backup if he is born two years later?

For Titans fans, Locker will always be a sore subject because he was taken in a class full of Hall of Fame players and he never signed a second contract with anyone, much-less the Titans. However, this is a good look into why it was so easy for a team to fall in love with the player that Jake Locker was in a time where they needed a QB to develop and lead the franchise in the future.

Was it the right move? No. Was he a great personality with physical traits worth taking a risk on at a position of need? Yes.

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