Drew Lock on His Future Standing With Broncos: 'I do Believe I’m the Guy Here'
If you ask Broncos Country whether QB Drew Lock is the future of the franchise, you’ll get dramatically different answers.
Some fans feel that the Denver Broncos' fourth straight losing season is a direct indictment on Lock — the team's second-round draft pick in 2019. Others believe that the lack of an offseason, a new offense, and injuries are significant factors that have hindered Lock’s development in his second year.
Then, the argument could be made that the truth about the Broncos 24-year-old signal-caller lies somewhere in the middle.
With two games left to go in the season, Lock was asked whether he believes he'll be the Broncos' QB moving forward. Before answering, Lock took a shot at the ubiquitous armchair quarterbacks out there.
“Everyone is going to talk about it, everyone thinks they can play it better than what they’re seeing on TV,” Lock answered. “It’s an easy position for people to talk about and gossip about. I’m looking forward to going out this week and making another claim that I should be the guy here and try to win these last two and show what I can do, and the decision is the decision. But I do believe I’m the guy here. With progressing over time with this offense, we get another year in the same offense, the sky’s the limit for us.”
Lock might be young, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but he’s not a rookie. The fact of the matter is, he’s started 16 NFL games now and has an 8-8 record spanning 2019 and 2020. This season he’s completing approximately 57.7% of his throws for 2,330 yards and 14 touchdowns. On the ground, he’s also credited with 138 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
But Lock’s turnovers are what have been the most concerning for those tasked with evaluating the Missouri native. He’s thrown 13 interceptions this year and has fumbled the ball eight times. Although Lock hasn’t thrown an interception since Week 13’s matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, he’s turned the ball over in the last 10 out of 11 games.
However, Lock’s demeanor and personality suggest he still maintains confidence in the face of adversity. He has shown some signs of improvement.
In the Broncos' last two games against the Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills, respectively, he displayed a better command of climbing the pocket and scanning through his progressions. Better late than never.
Lock seems to perform better when offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur calls plays and formations that look closer to the scheme ex-OC Rich Scangarello called when the QB was a rookie. The mantra in the Broncos' QB room is one Peyton Manning popularized: “You can’t go broke taking a profit.”
Lock has shown that he can take what the defense gives him, at times, even if that entails a check-down throw to the tight end in the flat. The proof is in the pudding as Broncos tight ends have scored twice the last two weeks in addition to racking up 141 yards combined.
The simple high-low reads, bootlegs, rollouts, and play-action open up Lock’s arsenal of athleticism and most importantly, his confidence with his teammates.
"It's going to come down to me knowing what we’re going into this week,” Lock said as he prepares for the Los Angeles Chargers. “Knowing my reads, where to get the ball if the first couple reads aren’t open. Me taking care of the ball, us establishing the run game. It’s the same thing every week.”
The Broncos are the first NFL team to win a championship and not make the playoffs in the five ensuing seasons. In his rookie campaign, Lock won four out of five starts which made GM John Elway comfortable enough to focus on equipping his QB with wide receiver talents like Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler with hopes of ending the Broncos' playoff drought.
Although the 2021 offseason begins approximately two weeks from now for Denver, the next two games could make the difference for how the Broncos plan to navigate through free agency and the NFL draft with regard to the quarterback position.
For his part, Elway said on Tuesday that the Broncos "still like" what they see in Lock and "still think he's got a chance to be a very good quarterback in this league" while acknowledging that the second-year QB has been "up-and-down". The Broncos want to see him "eliminate the mistakes" and show better consistency. Fangio echoed that on Wednesday.
"Keep improving in all the little things that Drew can improve on," Fangio said. "Nobody’s working harder than him to do that. He has the great want to and the great drive to be a great quarterback. We just hope to see constant improvement from him.”
When asked what the most important thing will be for Lock to showcase over the last two games, to assuage any concerns in the front office and coaching staff that he should be the guy in 2021, he said “The biggest thing in this league is winning games. My play has to represent winning play from the quarterback. Whatever it’s going to take to win these games, it's my job to go do that.”
Follow Luke on Twitter @LukePattersonLP and @MileHighHuddle.
