Seahawks Fans Buzzing Over QB Drew Lock Being the 'Long-Term Answer'
It's been more than a year since the Denver Broncos dealt Drew Lock to the Seattle Seahawks as part of the blockbuster Russell Wilson trade. Lock was pitted in an open competition (sound familiar?) with Geno Smith for Seattle's starting quarterback job, and then yet another streak of bad luck hit the former Broncos' second-rounder.
Lock contracted COVID-19 in the middle of August — literally, the worst possible time to catch the bug — and the rest is history. Considering the lack of sample size with Lock, Seattle went with Smith as the starter, and he went on to lead the Seahawks to a nine-win season and a playoff berth while earning the first Pro Bowl nod of his career.
Despite him hitting unrestricted free agency this offseason, the Seahawks weren't ready to give up on Lock, re-signing him to a one-year, $4 million deal. The question is, why?
After all, Seattle handed the 32-year-old Smith a three-year extension worth $75M. So why dither, as it were, with Lock? Every team needs a backup QB, but perhaps this window into the mind of a Seahawks writer can help answer the question.
Chris Donovan of 12th Man Rising, after stating that Smith is the "best quarterback for the Seahawks offense/system," wrote that Lock could still be Seattle's "long-term answer" at quarterback.
Drew Lock could still be the long-term answer at QB for the Seattle Seahawks.
Say what you want about Drew Lock. He checks every single box. Oh, and he is still only 26 years old. The Seahawks also know a thing or two about backup quarterbacks eventually finding success in the NFL. Lock is 'locked' up for one more season. With Geno Smith under contract for the next three seasons (at most), if Lock sticks around and learns how to succeed in the Seattle offense, the team could unearth a diamond in the rough.
Donovan makes a salient point about the wisdom Seattle GM John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll have cultivated on the backup-turned-Pro-Bowler subject. Remember, the difference between wisdom and intelligence is experience.
Wilson was a third-round draft pick in Seattle back in 2012, drafted as a developmental option to serve as the backup to veteran Matt Flynn, whom the Seahawks had just signed to a three-year, $19.5M contract.
Circa 2012, a $20M deal for a quarterback was relatively good money, with an average per year of $6.5M. It didn't go as planned, however, as Wilson out-dueled Flynn in training camp and preseason action, and was named Seattle's day-one starter. Wilson led Seattle to a World Championship the following season, defeating the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII.
Few saw that development coming. Even the emergence of Smith can be chalked up to lessons learned for Seattle when it comes to a diamond-in-the-rough backup eventually becoming the starter and going on to earn Pro Bowl accolades.
Does that mean that a similar fate awaits Lock in Seattle? I have my doubts, obviously, but Donovan is definitely keeping the light on for such a possibility.
A couple of months after the Lock trade had been consummated, Carroll took to the airwaves to proclaim that if the young QB was coming out of college in 2022, he'd have been the best signal caller in the NFL draft class. Kenny Pickett ended up being the first QB drafted at pick 20 by the Pittsburgh Steelers, for what it's worth.
“I think he’d have been the first guy picked, of quarterbacks anyway. He’d have been the first guy in this draft. I don’t have any hesitation saying that,” Carroll said in May of 2022.
But wait, there's more.
“The first look at Drew, he’s really athletic, he’s really a confident athlete, you can see he’s got a lot of body control, he’s got quick feet, he’s got a quick arm, he’s got various ways he can release the football as his body’s in different positions,” Carroll said. “He’s got a real knack there. He’s got a strong arm, he can throw the ball a mile down the field. He compares to Geno, and Geno Smith has a great arm. He has a world-class arm, and all that. To match up with that, that’s saying a lot.”
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When it comes to Lock somehow supplanting Smith as Seattle's starter, the notion is quite far-fetched sitting here in June of 2023, but in the NFL, much, much stranger things have happened. All it takes is an injury or a slump that stretches beyond two or three games, and the door can be opened to QB glory that was heretofore slammed shut.
When last we heard from Lock, he was doing his duty as a backup and genuflecting to Smith, while expressing his commitment to what the Seahawks are building.
“I feel like I learned more in this last year,” Lock said back in March via Seattle's team site. “I didn’t play, but I learned so much from being with Shane [Waldron], being with Pete, hearing how they talk football, and situation football, and how to handle a locker room. Everything those guys taught me last year, again, I’m excited to be able to come back and be here for another year and learn more from them.”
Time will tell what becomes of Lock in Seattle. But don't go betting your mortgage on him becoming the starter.
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