Titans Tight End Jared Cook defends Quarterbacks Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker

Published: 11^th Apr 12 8:33 pm

by Stephanie Umek
Stephanie Umek

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Don McPeak-US PRESSWIRE

Titans tight end Jared Cook is coming off one of the best years of his career and he is getting really excited for the start of off season practices and he is itching to get on the field again with all his teammates to start preparing for next season. He was recently interviewed by The Tennesseean about the Matt Hasselbeck and Jake Locker competition for starting quarterback.

With starting only five of 16 games last season, Cook had 49 receptions for 759 yards. He scored three touchdowns and only fumbled twice. He knows a thing or two about the Titans chemistry after-all, he’s been with the team since 2009.

He told The Tennesseean after an appearance promoting NFL’s Play60 program at LP Field, “I think Matt has a little bit of upside, but I think Jake’s got heart. Jake knows what he wants. When you know what you want, sometimes you’re going to get it. So I think it’s going to be a good competition.”

In the same sense a lot of people are recognizing the fact that Hasselbeck is a veteran and that Locker, just because he is younger, cannot just simply come in a few games and assume he gets the starting position. Hasselbeck may be “old” in football age, but he is still throwing like the best of them and he is not about to lose his starting position to a rookie.

The pressure for both quarterbacks was increased this off season with the scare of Peyton Manning. I can’t express how happy I am that Manning did NOT go to Nashville to become a Titan. Not only would it have muddied the waters, it would have also torn apart the relationships of the team.

Trust would have been lost, mainly in the players such as Hasselbeck and Locker trusting Owner Bud Adams, considering he has two perfectly talented and healthy quarterbacks risking the trust of them both to bring in a big name.

Cook told Titansonline.com that he is excited for this upcoming season. He said, ““It’s completely different this year. There was no off-season last year. We didn’t even know who our quarterback was. Not just getting work with Matt and Jake, but getting work with our DBs, safeties and linebackers and the whole team during the organized workouts. We’ll be putting ourselves in the best position to be playoff contenders this year…it all starts in the off-season.”

He finished the interview by stating that the sky is the limit. And it really is for this Titans team. After going 9-7 last season and just missing the playoffs they are in an excellent position to enter the playoffs and hope for that super bowl title.

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