Everyone was surprised when the Tennessee Titans selected Jake Locker with the eighth overall pick in the NFL draft. Including Locker.
In an ESPN Radio interview, Locker said he knew the Titans were interested in him, based on his pre-draft workouts and interviews for the Titans’ staff. But he didn’t realize the Titans liked him so much that they were preparing to take him with their first-round pick.
“I had gone through a lot of the portion of this process with them from the Senior Bowl to the Combine, to a personal workout and then a visit out here,” Locker said, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “I knew there was some interest. I just didn’t know there was enough to take me with that No. 8 pick.”
Locker knows that as a Top 10 pick, there’s pressure on him to become a franchise quarterback. And he said he’s not intimidated by that.
“It’s another opportunity to play football,” Locker said. “It’s a challenge no doubt, but it’s one that I really look forward to and I can’t wait for this process to begin.”
He’ll have to wait, like everyone else, until the lockout ends. And Titans fans will have to wait to see whether Locker develops into the kind of player who justifies drafting him higher than Locker himself thought he’d be drafted.