What Nathaniel Hackett's Recent Comments Might Mean for Broncos QB Drew Lock
If Drew Lock has lacked anything since arriving as the Denver Broncos' 2019 second-round pick, it's the unwavering support of the coaching staff. Despite being one of the premium-round picks of Vic Fangio's maiden draft class as head coach, Lock was never able to ingratiate himself to the, at times, stodgy defensive coach.
With his back against the wall in 2021, Fangio distanced himself from Lock by rubber-stamping the trade, with the help of new GM George Paton, that brought Teddy Bridgewater to Denver. Despite Fangio posturing the Bridgewater trade as one that would pit him against Lock in an 'even-Steven, 50/50' open competition, in retrospect, naming Teddy the starter was always fait accompli.
It was matter of course. As a head coach who knew he was entering a do-or-die season, when it came to the most important position on the field, Fangio erred on the side of the quarterback with the higher floor than the guy with the higher ceiling.
It was a philosophical step backward and a coaching-not-to-lose mentality. As always, the decision blew up in Fangio's face as Bridgewater was unable to elevate the Broncos and struggled to stay healthy all season.
Lock was hung out to dry, as it were, as Fangio and then-offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur figuratively and literally turned their backs on him. It's worth asking:
Was 2019 offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello the last Broncos coach to truly have Lock's back?
The Broncos appear to be — behind the scenes anyway — bent on moving whatever Rocky Mountains must be moved to pry Aaron Rodgers off the Green Bay Packers' hands. Barring that, there are other NFL veterans the Broncos could pursue via trade, like Minnesota's Kirk Cousins and San Francisco's Jimmy Garoppolo, but neither of those options present a congruent offsetting value on the field, relative to their salary-cap and trade-asset cost.
Unless Paton and new head coach Nathaniel Hackett fall in love with a quarterback prospect in the 2022 NFL draft class, there's a decent chance Lock could be this team's Day 1 quarterback come September. It would make some sense, considering the reputation the 2022 QB class has for leaving much to be desired, and the fact that Lock is entering the final year on his rookie contract.
Putting Hackett's recent comment to NBC Sports' Peter King under the microscope, I can't help but wonder whether he's exactly the coach the Broncos need to turn the Lock ship around.
"I’ve been with a lot of different quarterbacks, and they always know I’ll put them in position to excel, and I’ll always have their backs," Hackett told King.
Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Lock is probably still wondering what that feels like — a coach loyally having his back in the NFL. The former Missouri star glimpsed it for five games at the end of his rookie season with Scangarello, but since then, the Fangio/Shurmur regime could hardly be bothered to even pay Lock a cursory compliment in the press.
One of the key questions Paton asked the 10 interviewees for Denver's head-coaching vacancy was what each guy's plan would be to get the most out of Lock. I've got to assume Paton liked Hackett's answer... a lot.
Hackett does have a track record of getting the most out of a young, highly-drafted quarterback. Look no further than his resume with Blake Bortles in Jacksonville circa 2015-18.
Hackett saved Bortles from the fate of a true draft bust and turned him into a Super Bowl-viable quarterback. For a stretch, under Hackett's tutelage, Bortles was a (albeit slightly) above average quarterback that could help lead a team to a stone's throw from the Super Bowl.
Lock is arguably a significantly more talented and toolsy QB than Bortles ever was. But does Lock possess the top-two traits Hackett views as requisites to being a successful NFL QB?
Namely, is Lock tough and does he have football intelligence?
Divining the answers is a murky undertaking because Lock dealt with injuries as a rookie and a second-year player that cost him time on the field. But when Hackett talked about "toughness" as a QB intangible, he was more talking about a player's ability to absorb a big, painful hit and pop right back up.
Excepting that blindside attack from Bud Dupree in Pittsburgh circa Week 2 of 2020, I'd say the answer is an affirmative on Lock. But what about his football intelligence?
Lock's football IQ has been questioned outside the building, but has never been disparaged by anyone inside the Broncos, whether by a teammate or coach. The closest approximation is Shurmur's admission that in Year 1 (2020), he had to whittle down his playbook because in the face of the pandemic wherein coaches weren't able to get hands on the players until August, there simply wasn't enough time to install the full extent of his system.
Many in media took that to mean that Lock wasn't smart enough to cram the width and breadth of Shurmur's playbook in the alotted six-week window between when training camp starts and the regular-season opener. Doing so, however, forces one to take a rational leap and the distance covered in that leap is subjective and based entirely on one's preconceived notion of Lock as a QB.
After all, Lock, and all of his offensive brethren, were tasked with learning and assimilating an entirely new playbook without the corresponding time and reps to install it. Shurmur himself admitted that by the time the Broncos hit October of 2020, adding up the sum of all the training camp, regular-season practice, and in-game reps, still fell short of how many reps Lock and company would have gotten under their belt in a traditional football year by the end of the offseason training program.
So, of course Shurmur had to adapt his playbook accordingly. Seeing that as a reflection of a second-year QB's football IQ is the epitome of unfair. And frankly, biased.
We'll see whether the Broncos are able to work a Mile-High miracle and orchestrate a Rodgers trade. Barring that, if Paton and Hackett don't identify a signal-caller in this draft class that represents a Day 1 upgrade over Lock, Broncos fans should not be surprised to see the young gunslinger starting for this team come September.
If it shakes out that way, and that's a big if, something tells me that under Hackett's wing, Broncos Country could see a new-and-improved version of Lock that more resembles his 2019 counterpart back when he had the benefit of being coached by guy who believed in him and actually had his best interest at heart.
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