After Calling Drew Lock a 'Huge Talent', Colin Cowherd Flip-Flops: 'I'm Out'
Drew Lock has mostly received skepticism and derision from the national media since the Denver Broncos drafted him with the No. 42 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft. Even after he led the Broncos to a 4-1 finish as a rookie, the national perspective has been very dismissive, and at times, downright disrespectful of the former Missouri star.
There's a reason why the Huddle Up Podcast made famous the hashtag #L3tTh3mHat3.
Few outside of the Denver media market could catch the vision on Lock heading into the 2020 season — with one exception. Fox Sports' Colin Cowherd, the host of the nationally-syndicated radio show The Herd.
As recently as June, Cowherd tapped Lock to be 2020's "pop" quarterback, meaning the next second-year signal-caller to blow the doors down in the NFL and seemingly come out of nowhere to take it by storm. Cowherd even said, "Don't be shocked if Denver beats Kansas City."
Fast forward to November, and Cowherd has jumped off the Lock bandwagon with such force and alacrity, he's broken his figurative ankles upon landing. During the Broncos' Week 8 bout with the Los Angeles Chargers in which Lock dug himself a 24-3 hole through the first three-quarters of play, Cowherd tweeted a very strong take, firing across not only Lock's bow, but Broncos' GM John Elway's as well.
The Broncos would storm back to beat Justin Herbert and the Chargers, overcoming a 21-point deficit for just the fifth time in franchise history, due in large part to the inspired play by Lock, who tossed three fourth-quarter touchdown passes, including the game-winner as time expired.
Lock 1, Herbert 0.
Only two days later, Cowherd made his backpedal complete with a freezing-cold take, pointing to Lock's on-field celebrations as a contrived, artificial attempt to be "cool".
"Quarterback is not a position to be cool," Cowherd said on Tuesday. "Now, it's cool when you win. Peyton Manning is funny. Brett Favre was cool without trying. Patrick Mahomes is cool without trying. But if you're trying to be cool, and you're a little too silly, or you're a show-boater—[it's] not going to work. Not my kind of guy. Russell Wilson's not cool. Tom Brady, not cool. [Drew] Brees, not cool. Andrew Luck wasn't cool. Carson Wentz isn't cool. Again, don't tell me Patrick Mahomes is cool. He's cool because he's winning. He's not trying to be cool. And it's a big difference. There's guys that are cool and guys that try to act cool."
Just a few short months ago, Cowerd went from saying, "I think he's a huge talent" to now burying Lock and comparing him to the busted QB corpses of first-round picks like Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston.
"We have a new cool guy. I was right on [Johnny] Manziel, I was right on Baker [Mayfield], I was right on Cam [Newton], I was right on Jameis Winston," Cowherd said. "Too silly, show-boat, too cool. I was right. It's 4-for-4. Bring your argument on. Here's number five. I'm not into Drew Lock. Cool dancing. Win more games, Cub Scout. Win more games."
News flash to Cowherd: Lock has started 10 games as a Bronco and while it would be a bridge too far to say "all he does is win", the young QB is 6-4 as a starter. Now, one can argue that wins shouldn't be attributed to QBs or that victories aren't a 'QB stat' but Cowherd's assertion here is that Lock needs to "win more games" before he tries to be "cool" on the field.
6-4 as a starter through 10 games. Keep in mind, Lock only played a handful of snaps in one of those four losses attributed to him before suffering a shoulder injury that cost him the next two starts. Jeff Driskel brought the Broncos close but ultimately fell short, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2. That loss goes on Lock's resume.
Another thing to consider; two of those losses were against the juggernaut Chiefs. Measuring Lock's wherewithal as a QB against the likes of Mahomes and the Chiefs, considering where the Broncos are as a team, isn't exactly objective.
However, that doesn't exempt Lock from how poorly he played in those two matchups vs. Kansas City. But we also have to keep in mind that Lock has played in exactly two snow games in his entire life on planet Earth. Both came against the Chiefs.
So, if the measuring stick comes down to wins, where exactly has Lock strayed from the "huge talent" and "pop" guy Cowherd tapped him as? Even The Herd co-host, Joy Taylor, pointed out how "in" on Lock Cowherd was during the offseason. Cowherd's reply was as follows.
"Now I'm starting to see this stuff, I'm like, 'Out, done, not interested.' Quarterback's not a cool position," Cowherd ranted. "I want you to be presidential or 'quarterback-ian'. I want you to be an adult. I want you to be fairly neutral. I want you to be right in the middle."
Cowherd's hyperbolic tirade continued, roping Elway into the conversation.
"You're in a franchise with John Elway," Cowherd said. "John Elway's shadow is better than you. There's one quarterback in the NFL that tries to act cool and it works—Aaron Rodgers. And when you're that gifted, I guess you get to be. When you're as good as Aaron Rodgers, you can be a little bit of a showboat, and you can do the Superman stuff, or whatever you want to do with the belt and all that stuff. It's Aaron Rodgers... I've told you before. I'm right on this."
The host of The Herd laid down this closing statement.
"I warned you 4 times on this. I've been right every time. I'm going to be 5 for 5... I'm out on Drew Lock."
It's all noise. Lock thrives on criticism, so Broncos Country should relish Cowherd's monumental flip-flop.
Lock has to be better than he was from the final quarter of Week 6 through til the final quarter of Week 8. But it's possible that he and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, with more time on task, may have unlocked something (pun intended) in that furious fourth quarter against the Chargers.
Time will tell. All we know for certain is that Lock has won more games than he's lost and is still yet to play a full 16. Honestly, that's my biggest knock on the kid is his durability.
Keep in mind, Lock and Shurmur lost out on 1,400 or so reps with the NFL canceling the Offseason Training Program and preseason. Then Lock gets hurt in Week 2 and what modest momentum he'd built up with Shurmur comes to a screeching halt.
Now he's had three additional starts with Shurmur and despite unbalanced and inconsistent play, he's won two of them. That should tell even Lock's biggest haters, which Cowherd has now become, something.
For now, the Broncos sit at 3-4, having climbed out of the 0-3 hole they dug for themselves, in large part due to Lock's Week 2 injury, by winning three of their last four games. If Lock can get another upset win this week on the road at the Atlanta Falcons, the Broncos will be at .500 at the midway point and will have all the momentum in the world.
Considering how fickle Cowherd proved himself to be, don't be shocked to see him jump back on the Lock bandwagon at some point in the near future if the young QB can turn the ship around fully, and pat himself on the back for being the guy all along who tapped Lock as his "pop" quarterback for 2020.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
