Jake Locker must shed ‘injury-prone’ label to become franchise QB

The Tennessee Titans won’t have the man who they drafted to be their franchise quarterback for the rest of the season, as Jake Locker is out for the year with a Lisfranc injury to his right foot. Locker suffered the injury in his foot during a Week 10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

For a player who relies on his legs as much as he does his arm, this injury could be detrimental to his dual-threat ability, and only brings more questions as to whether the Titans believe they can stick with him as their franchise QB. Locker has constantly been battling injury issues in his career. Dating back to his college days at Washington, Locker has had a dislocated shoulder, broken rib, broken thumb, hamstring issues and a neck injury.

This wasn’t the first major injury he’s suffered in his young NFL career, and in two years as the starter, he’s suffered three separate injuries that will cost him a total of 14 of a possible 32 regular season games.

As you can imagine, it’s earned him the dreaded injury-prone label:

"“I’ve been injured the last two years so I couldn’t argue with anyone that wanted to say that,” Locker said. “But like I said, I’m going to do everything I can to get back and get healthy. I’ve felt to this point that I’ve always done everything that I can to prepare myself physically to be as healthy and strong as I possibly could. Unfortunately it’s just a few freak deals that I’ve had."