Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker is one of this year’s forgotten men in fantasy football. This is the current state of things; his ADP has him currently being drafted as the No. 28 quarterback selected, at pick No. 218 overall. At first glance, you may think that is a fair spot for him, but the situation in Tennessee is set up for Locker to have a big year. It is fair to make that statement about whoever is at the helm for the Titans, and it spreads throughout their entire offense.
The Titans drafted Locker out of Washington in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft expecting big things but to this point, his inability to stay on the field has been his biggest problem. The 25-year old has started 18 games over the past two years and has played through a slew of injuries that have hampered his growth as a quarterback.
Last year Locker looked better, and he put a few games together where he was absolutely fantasy worthy. He started seven games but was hurt very early in the seventh game, so for argument’s sake let’s look at the numbers from the first six games. He completed 107 of 174 passes (61.5 percent) for 1232 yards and threw eight touchdowns to go along with three interceptions. He also kicked in 137 yards rushing and scored twice via the ground.
If we take those numbers and look at them over 16 games, Locker’s season would look like this; 285/464 attempts, 61.5 percent, 3285 yards, 21 passing touchdowns, 8 INT, 365 yards rushing, 5 rushing touchdowns. Those numbers are reasonably productive for fantasy purposes, and they help with the next step of this discussion.
To this point, the most important moment in Locker’s career happened when the Titans hired head coach Ken Whisenhunt this offseason. It immediately piqued my interest in this offense, because there’s an abundance of evidence that tells us what Whisenhunt can do for his quarterbacks. The Titans offense will be much better than most think, and right now the Titans offensive players are a fantasy afterthought.
If you are asking why Whisenhunt matters so much, let me explain, but first understand that every little detail applies to the Titans offense. Specifically it applies to Locker and rookie signal caller Zach Mettenberger. Whisenhunt’s track record for taking different types of quarterbacks and getting them to the next level quickly is unparalleled.
Whisenhunt took over as offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh in 2004 and got a rookie quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger. Whisenhunt coached Roethlisberger for his first three years in the league, and while Roethlisberger did not go nuts statistically, he was remarkably efficient.
The Steelers were a run first team early in Roethlisberger’s career, but receiver Hines Ward did put up very respectable numbers, even with the young quarterback starting. Running Jerome Bettis, Willie Parker and Duce Staley were certainly fantasy relevant in Whisenhunt’s scheme.
Next up was Kurt Warner. Warner’s career was virtually on life support when Whisenhunt arrived in Arizona in 2007. Warner had failed miserably with the New York Giants in 2004 and went to the Cardinals as a free agent, as he could not find the magic he had with the St. Louis Rams earlier in his career.
With Whisenhunt, the pairing was perfect, and Warner was able to re-establish himself as a very good fantasy quarterback. In the five years before 2007, Warner threw a total of 27 touchdowns. With Whisenhunt as the head coach in 2007, Warner threw 27 touchdowns and followed that up with 30 in 2008 and 26 in 2009.
Looking at how this worked out for the Cardinals skill position players is interesting. Over the span with Whisenhunt and Warner together, the Cardinals fielded two top 21 receivers in 2007, the No. 4 and No. 7 receivers in 2008 and the No. 6 and No. 9 receivers in 2009.
The San Diego Chargers hired Whisenhunt to be their offensive coordinator early in 2013, working with quarterback Philip Rivers. Rivers had a strong run from 2008-10 but had regressed for two years prior to Whisenhunt’s arrival. There was some talk about Rivers being on the downside of his career, but he arguably put up the best overall season of his career in 2013. He completed almost 70 percent of his passes, threw for 4478 yards and registered 32 touchdowns.
The Chargers had very few options that were attractive before the season started. With Whisenhunt manning the ship and Rivers delivering the ball, they produced some great fantasy numbers. Rookie Keenan Allen finished the season as the No. 26 scoring wide receiver while Antonio Gates was the No. 4 tight end, and Danny Woodhead caught the second most passes in football for running backs.
This is the point; even the options that don’t look great end up being very important because of how Whisenhunt designs his offense around the strengths of his players. In some ways, the success of his offenses has more to do with the things he does not ask his players to do, keeping them comfortable and within themselves.
This brings us back full circle to Locker and the Titans offense. Locker is a great athlete and a capable quarterback, exactly the kind of player that Whisenhunt has been able to do great things with, and quickly. From Roethlisberger, to Warner and then to Rivers, he has shown that he can do remarkable things at every stop.
In fact, when looking at the overall picture of talent, it is fair to say the Titans are ahead of where the Chargers were last year. Locker has wide receivers Kendall Wright, Justin Hunter and Nate Washington. He also has tight end Delanie Walker, and the entire group is underrated at this point. They will be starting players in fantasy football this year. The history is too great to ignore, and the time to get these players is now.
At the end of the day, it didn’t matter if it was Roethlisberger or Warner or Rivers, and it doesn’t matter what the name is on the back of the jersey now. History has shown us that as long as there is a reasonable set of tools to work with, Whisenhunt can extract out the most out of his quarterbacks, and he’s done it everywhere he has been.
There’s a history of success that has followed Whisenhunt everywhere he has been. He is working with a large pool of talent in Tennessee right now, and it should surprise no one when Locker, assuming he stays healthy, and all of the talent around him become very big contributors to fantasy lineups this year.
At the very least, be prepared to jump on him if he is on your waiver wire before the Titans play the very weak defense of the Dallas Cowboys in week No. 2 of the regular season. This game will serve as a measuring stick for Locker’s progress with Whisenhunt, but be warned, after this game you might have a lot of competition for him of he is still on your waiver wire.
