Elway on Drew Lock: 'We Still Like What we See in Him'
For many fans, the book is out on Drew Lock. He's not Kyler Murray, thus, he's a bust. He's not Justin Herbert, so time to move on.
That's not how the Denver Broncos brass view Lock, however. While GM John Elway will acknowledge openly that Lock has been "up-and-down", the Broncos haven't moved off their organizational commitment to Lock, and want to see him use these final two games to eliminate the mistakes and show better consistency.
"I think he's showed that there's some bright spots there and he's done a heck of a job in a lot of situations but to be good and to be great in this league, you've got to play with consistency and eliminate mistakes," Elway told Phil Milani of the team site on Tuesday. "So that's what we're looking for out of Drew. Hopefully, eliminate some of those mistakes and keep showing us the things he can do."
Just in case fans, or media, didn't interpret Elway's remarks on Lock accurately, the GM took the chance to highlight where Lock has improved and went on record about the team's still-confident outlook on the young quarterback.
"Yeah, I think we're seeing it. He's gone through his reads better. He's dumped some things off and continued to use the experience to get better," Elway said. "So obviously, the inconsistency—that comes with being young especially if you're young and you've got young guys around you, like him, like we do, it seems like when they all don't play, they do it together. Again, we've just got to work on consistency. I think Drew's had an up-and-down year but we still like what we see in him and still think he's got a chance to be a very good quarterback in this league."
With 16 NFL starts under his belt now — spanning 2019 and 2020 — Lock is 8-8. On the season, he's 57.7% of his passes for 2,330 yards and 14 touchdowns, while throwing 13 interceptions. He's also rushed for 138 yards and two more touchdowns but he missed most of Week 2, all of Weeks 3 and 4, and all of Week 12.
For Lock's part, he views himself as the Broncos' guy.
"I do believe I’m the guy here, and with progressing over time with this offense, we get another year in this same offense, the sky’s the limit for us," Lock said on Wednesday.
The Broncos are telegraphing a posture on Lock that is supportive on one hand, while not trying to blow smoke up anyone's skirt with regard to the foibles he's displayed in Year 2. For now, it seems Elway's plan is to stay the course, give Lock coaching/schematic continuity, and hope that a full NFL offseason calendar will provide the launching pad for Lock to really take a quantum leap forward in Year 3.
Year 3 for Lock also happens to be the final year of Elway's contract with the Broncos. It seems the GM is inclined to go all-in on Lock and swing for the fences with the coaches and players he's hand-picked over the past few seasons.
It is Elway, though. We've seen him change his tune on a dime. However, in this case, while fans should leave open the sliver of possibility that the Broncos could do something else at quarterback, the odds are, it'll be Lock in 2021.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
