Jake Locker to RETURN to school in 2010

[BelichickFan]

Good news for us, I believe, we need top 10 types to return as we should have a top 15 #1 next year for Seymour. Most will be coming out so there will be depth for our three #2s this year but I am rooting for some top ten types to stay.

 

[mayoclinic]

Bad news this year, good news next year.

Kind of shocking. Locker probably would have gone top 5, and the strong likelihood is that there will be a rookie salary cap next year and he'll lose millions in the short term. Good move for his development as a player, bad financial move. Steve Sarkisian must be very persuasive.

Here's a couple of takes on the implications of Locker's decision:

What Locker?s decision means for the draft | National Football Post

Draft Countdown - Wright Stuff NFL Draft Blog

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Bad news this year, good news next year.

Kind of shocking. Locker probably would have gone top 5, and the strong likelihood is that there will be a rookie salary cap next year and he'll lose millions in the short term. Good move for his development as a player, bad financial move. Steve Sarkisian must be very persuasive.

Here's a couple of takes on the implications of Locker's decision:

What Locker?s decision means for the draft | National Football Post

Draft Countdown - Wright Stuff NFL Draft Blog

Maybe he's thinking he has a chance to be drafted by New England in 2011?

 

[BelichickFan]

Bad news this year, good news next year.

Overall I'm happy about it. The difference between one guy going ahead of you is far different in the top ten (where we hope to have a pick next year) than in the lower 1/3 of the first round and into the second. Plus this year's draft should be plenty deep enough. Of course it would be nice if he could come out in both, but I think we'll be happy about this when all is said and done.

 

[mayoclinic]

Overall I'm happy about it. The difference between one guy going ahead of you is far different in the top ten (where we hope to have a pick next year) than in the lower 1/3 of the first round and into the second. Plus this year's draft should be plenty deep enough. Of course it would be nice if he could come out in both, but I think we'll be happy about this when all is said and done.

I'm not complaining. Your assessment is quite reasonable.

Potential top 10 guys who could be coming out in 2011 right now include (juniors with an *):

QB Jake Locker
RB Mark Ingram*
WR AJ Green*
WR Julio Jones*
WR Michael Floyd*
WR Jonathan Baldwin*
OT Matt Reynolds*
DE Robert Quinn*
CB Patrick Peterson*

And that doesn't even include all of the juniors expected to declare this year who could possibly return and be potential top 10 picks (QB Ryan Mallet, CB Joe Haden, S Eric Berry, DE Carlos Dunlap, DE Jason Pierre-Paul, OT Brian Bulaga, OT Bruce Campbell, DT Gerald McCoy, etc.).

 

[everlong]

Dream scenario is he goes back and has a monster senior year, the rookie cap becomes reality, Oakland finishes with the worst overall record and we trade down reaping great rewards.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

I can't believe that I guy that was projected to maybe be the #1 pick, would go back to school, and risk not only getting hurt (I'm sure he has taken out insurance against that), but coming out next year and facing a rookie salary cap, or even worse, a lockout.

The reason that all of us went to college was to get a good high paying job. If someone came to you after your Jr. year and said leave now and we will pay you $10 mil a year, I'm pretty sure that you would have forgone your senior year (although I'm not sure I would want to give back the trip to New Orleans for the Final Four my Sr. year, from what I can remember of it, it was pretty good, (aside from Kieth #&$% Smart)).

Locker is making a mistake, but it is good news for the Pats. I already have my binky for that Seymour pick, and it is replace the stud from Georgia, with another Dawg. A.J. Green he is Randy Moss!

 

[mayoclinic]

I can't believe that I guy that was projected to maybe be the #1 pick, would go back to school, and risk not only getting hurt (I'm sure he has taken out insurance against that), but coming out next year and facing a rookie salary cap, or even worse, a lockout.

The reason that all of us went to college was to get a good high paying job. If someone came to you after your Jr. year and said leave now and we will pay you $10 mil a year, I'm pretty sure that you would have forgone your senior year (although I'm not sure I would want to give back the trip to New Orleans for the Final Four my Sr. year, from what I can remember of it, it was pretty good, (aside from Kieth #&$% Smart)).

Locker is making a mistake, but it is good news for the Pats. I already have my binky for that Seymour pick, and it is replace the stud from Georgia, with another Dawg. A.J. Green he is Randy Moss!

Brady Quinn, Matt Leinhart and Sam Bradford all hurt themselves by not coming out after their junior years. Locker needs a year of development, but he's the hot QB right now, and it's not clear that he will duplicate his success next year. Jevan Snead was touted as a possible #1 pick going into this year, and now look at him. Brian Brohm would have done better to come out early. The list is not that short.

I hope things work out for Locker, and I hate to criticize going back to school, but it's a heck of a risk. Gutsy move.

 

[mayoclinic]

Jake Locker apparently did not get a 1st round grade from the NFL Draft Advisory Committee:

Locker didn't get a first-round grade from Advisory Committee | ProFootballTalk.com

Might have had something to do with him decided to stay.

The "league source" who revealed this had some scathing comments about ESPN's Todd McShay, who had projected Locker as the #1 pick:

""That's the problem .... McShay is clueless. Up until three weeks before the 2008 draft, he said that [Kentucky's] Andre Woodson would be a first-round pick. He went in the sixth and is out of the league. ... The problem I have with people like McShay saying stupid things is parents and others who 'advise' these kids think McShay knows what he is talking about," the source said. "And they believe him before they believe the Advisory Committee. Then, when the kids go a lot lower than projected they are pissed and/or depressed. ... This stuff happens every year and we have to deal with the broken hearts because people who don't know what they are talking about put visions of grandeur into young players' heads."

 

[Ochmed Jones]

I think he made a wise decision and I hope he has a great season season.

 

[patsfaninpa]

Hopefully Mallet stays. And, we get a top -2 pick. There will be teams dying to trade up. When you deal a top pick for a qb, you usually get their 1 and 2 for that draft, and their first the next year. That's what SD got for vick and E.Manning. We might be able to string a bunch of good drafts together.

 

[sg14]

In my mind the only thing that could hurt Locker is if he got hurt, the guy is a prime time athlete but needs more experience. He has a stud WR that is very young, freshman or sophmore this year.

I was going to reply earlier to Ochmed to say , "think of Elway". I read today that Hugh Millen, Seattle radio commentator, ex-Pats QB says he is such a talent that he does not expect to see someone as good as Locker for the rest of his life. An athelete of a lifetime.

He has tremendous wheels, it looks effortless as he runs away from players.
Got the top level NFL arm, but does not have the experience.

Brady Quinn, Matt Leinhart and Sam Bradford all hurt themselves by not coming out after their junior years. Locker needs a year of development, but he's the hot QB right now, and it's not clear that he will duplicate his success next year. Jevan Snead was touted as a possible #1 pick going into this year, and now look at him. Brian Brohm would have done better to come out early. The list is not that short.

I hope things work out for Locker, and I hate to criticize going back to school, but it's a heck of a risk. Gutsy move.

 

[mayoclinic]

I was going to reply earlier to Ochmed to say , "think of Elway". I read today that Hugh Millen, Seattle radio commentator, ex-Pats QB says he is such a talent that he does not expect to see someone as good as Locker for the rest of his life. An athelete of a lifetime.

He has tremendous wheels, it looks effortless as he runs away from players.
Got the top level NFL arm, but does not have the experience.

I was a college freshman at Stanford in 1983, the same year as John Elway. He didn't start that season and when he got on the field he made a lot of mistakes, but you could tell that he was something special. His scrambling ability combined with a cannon of an arm. An athlete of a lifetime.