Titans Won't Pick Up Jake Locker's 5th-Year Option - Here's What That Means For Locker in 2014

The news circulating that the Tennessee Titans aren’t planning to pick the fifth-year option on Jake Locker’s contact may not come as a surprise to most. Looking back at Locker’s track record with injuries and inconsistency - along with how costly the option would be - it's understandable that the Titans just weren't ready to pay him that much money. Now, in 2014, the pressure is on Locker to prove that he belongs among the league's high-salaried starting QBs.

If Locker was, in fact, given the deal, it would have paid him the average of the top 10 quarterbacks in the league, which typically weighs in at around $14.6 million dollars. On top of that, the money would have been guaranteed even if Locker had gotten injured. Most Titans fans can’t imagine Locker being worth those numbers, and it would have been a stretch even without his injury history.

There is a lot on the line for the quarterback who was the 8th overall pick in the 2011 draft. If Locker happens to impress the Titans this year, they can re-sign him at a lower number. However, it's going to take much more than we’ve seen from him in the past for him to be worth the number his option would have given him in 2015.

Knowing everything that's on the line, Locker can’t afford another mediocre year (and he can't keep getting hurt - missing 14 games in the past two seasons has torpedoed his value). Maybe this news with motivate him to be the quarterback the Titans desperately need this season - he knows what he has to do, and now it’s just a matter of actually doing it.