Football Outsiders Puts Finger on Broncos' Biggest Remaining Roster Need

The Broncos are a little thin at the most important position on the field. But how big an issue is it?

Compared to the quarterback room one year ago, the Denver Broncos look quite different in 2020. Sure, the likes of Drew Lock and Brett Rypien remain but gone is the experience the room had. 

Joe Flacco, for all of his faults, was a decade-long NFL starter, and while Brandon Allen had never started a regular-season game before arriving in Denver last year, it can be argued his four years of experience in the pros helped him hit the ground running somewhat. 

The irony is that even though Lock has just one NFL season under his belt, while Allen, who's no longer with the Broncos, has four, Lock now has two more career starts than his former teammate. Allen started three games in between Flacco's season-ending exit following Week 8 and Lock's debut in Week 13. There was also a bye in between. 

Lock would win four of the five starts Denver gave him down the stretch, giving the front office a shot of confidence that it finally had a QB to build around. Building the nest was exactly what GM John Elway did this past offseason. 

Lock would unquestionably be the guy heading into 2020 but who would be the backup? Not Flacco, whom the Broncos released ahead of free agency and has since signed with the Jets, and not Allen, who remains unsigned as a free agent. 

The Broncos' solution? Sign Jeff Driskel — a fifth-year player who's bounced around the league. Denver gave Driskel a two-year, $5 million contract with Year 1 guaranteed. 

The problem? He's supposed to be Denver's veteran fail-safe in the event something happens to Lock and yet, he's only got eight career starts. 

This issue has not escaped the notice of Football Outsiders, who recently published an article highlighting each NFL team's biggest remaining weakness in the wake of free agency and the draft. Here's what FO's Rivers McCown said about the Broncos. 

Biggest Need: Backup quarterback

The Broncos had a terrific draft, running out of it with Jerry Jeudy, KJ Hamler, and exactly zero excuses for Drew Lock to not play well in 2020. Lock finished the 2019 season with a 2.2% DVOA and, in theory, these new weapons should unlock the deep passing game that is his strong suit. However, the Broncos still have no real backup of acclaim. No Case Keenum, no Joe Flacco. They're rolling with Jeff Driskel. Lock's rookie season showed some promise, but QBASE 2019 compared him to Brady Quinn. Given how strong the rest of the roster looks after a strong draft and the trades for A.J. Bouye and Jurrell Casey, you could argue that there's not a player in the league that could make more of a difference between contention and flopping than Lock without a real backup plan in 2020.

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If Lock stays healthy, the issue is moot. But that is a big 'if' because despite being a durable starter for four years at Missouri, Lock had to miss the first 11 weeks of his rookie season due to a severe thumb injury. 

Odds are, that thumb was a fluke — just bad luck. Still, if the only thing standing between the Broncos' 2020 season and ruin is Driskel, if Lock were to miss significant time, it's less than ideal from the outside looking in. 

Internally, Elway and company are confident in Driskel. 

"We feel that he’s [Lock is] that guy," Elway said following the 2020 draft. "Jeff Driskel came in. He’s going to be the backup. He’s coming into camp as the backup. He got some playing time until he got hurt last year in Detroit. There are some quarterbacks that are still available, but we decided that we’re going to build around Drew and give him that opportunity to take the job.”

Reading between the lines, it sounds like the Broncos are willing to roll the dice on not having the biggest name as the backup so as to not pose any real threat to Lock's standing as the guy. That is the one benefit of having Driskel as the backup and Rypien as the backup's backup; no one in the Broncos' locker room will mistake who the man under center is. 

Lock. 

Is the backup situation a little worrisome? Yes. 

But let's face it. With the exception of the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles, NFL history tells us that if a starting QB goes down and misses serious time, the season goes to seed in a hurry for teams regardless of who the backup is. There are a few exceptions that prove the rule but that's just the way it is. 

The Broncos are all-in on Lock. And they stocked the shelves around him to not only give him weapons but keep him healthy. From Graham Glasgow in free agency to Lloyd Cushenberry III and Netane Muti in the draft, the Broncos bolstered the interior O-line to keep Lock upright. 

If the offensive tackles play up to the level the team brass expect in 2020, Lock will be cocooned quite well in the pocket. It's another big 'if' but football, like life, offers no perfectly safe injury-proof plan. 

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.