NFL Draft 2011: Why Jake Locker Still Deserves To Be a Top-15 Pick

Flashback to September 20, 2009. Pretty much every draft pundit had Jake Locker as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft after a 16-13 win over the No.3 ranked USC Trojans.

Flash-foward now to present day. Most draft pundits have written off Locker after a disappointing senior season that began with Heisman talks. Now, those same draft pundits that said Locker was a surefire No. 1 overall pick say that it is likely he will fall out of the first round entirely.

That is just plain wrong. Locker still deserves to be a top-15 pick come this April. He has pretty much everything you want in a quarterback. Yes, he did have a horrific senior season, but that wasn't entirely his fault.

Locker started the year off strong, making good passes, leading the Huskies to good games and showing just why he was said to be the No. 1 pick. Then, in the third game of the year against Nebraska, Locker had what some could argue as the worst game ever for a college quarterback.

Locker went 4-for-20 for 71 yards and 1 TD to go with 2 interceptions. In that game Locker fractured a rib that would destroy his senior campaign. With that rib injury, Locker had trouble throwing, and doing pretty much everything that a football player needs to do to win.

Despite the injury and playing on a pretty weak Washington Huskies team, Locker led the Huskies to several late-season wins to qualify the Huskies for the Holiday Bowl. But this is where things got scary for the Huskies, their Holiday Bowl opponent would be the Nebraska Cornhuskers who had routed the Huskies earlier in the season and made Locker look like a joke.

The Holiday Bowl got off to a rough start for the Huskies, Locker was playing poorly again and it looked like a Cornhusker victory again. But in the second half Locker started to get things rolling and lead the unranked Huskies to an upset victory of the No. 18 ranked Huskers.

That game may have just saved Locker's pro career. Not as much as the Senior Bowl will, however.

Locker made a great decision in accepting an invitation to the Senior Bowl. While he does have all the measurable that you want in a quarterback, Locker played poorly in a lot of Washington's games this year. A good Senior Bowl game will be huge for Locker's draft stock. If he can show that he can be accurate and make little to no mistakes, Locker as a top-10 pick might return.

Locker deserves to be a top-15 pick in the draft. With Andrew Luck returning to Stanford for another year and so many teams needing a quarterback this year, Locker has a great chance to move into the top 15, and for good reason.

He has all of the measurable, good size, a nice arm, good accuracy and the ability to make plays with his legs. Yes, it would be good to be drafted by a team that is not desperate for a quarterback like the Vikings, but to instead be drafted by a team that has a nice option at quarterback and are looking for the future, like the Packers with Aaron Rodgers back in '05.

Either way that you look at it, Locker should be a top-15 pick.