Hindsight is 20/20, they say. It’s far easier to know what the right decision to make is when you know the eventual outcome. Or, in the case of the Tennessee Titans, it would be easier to know which decisions would come back to bite them.
Such is the case with the 2011 NFL draft. That year, the Titans’ first-round pick, eighth overall, was quarterback Jake Locker.
With Matt Hasselbeck already the starting quarterback, Locker was pegged to sit behind him for a year before being expected to see the field. That didn’t exactly pan out, though, as Hasselbeck dealt with some injuries and Locker appeared in five games during his rookie season.
The rest of Locker’s career is plagued by injury, resulting in the Titans declining to pick up his fifth-year option. There were other teams interested, but Locker decided to retire from football instead.
Pro Football Focus did a re-draft of the 2011 NFL draft, and they suggested the Titans would take center Jason Kelce.
Adding someone who turned out to be one of the most dominant centers in NFL history and one of the most famous, would certainly have changed the Titans’ 2011 season. Perhaps, with Kelce at center, Hasselbeck doesn’t get injured. Perhaps the Titans win more games with improved blocking for Chris Johnson. Or, maybe Kelce isn’t a fit in Tennessee and the whole thing is a disaster.
It’s fun to look back and think about how different decisions could have led to different outcomes. But when you’re talking about personnel, you have to consider more than just the position they play, especially with linemen. Kelce would have been a welcome addition in Tennessee, but that doesn’t mean it would have been the right pick, either.