One very underrated aspect of Drew Lock’s game

Though Drew Lock is not a finished product at this point in time, he is much more NFL-ready than some give him credit for.

It seems like one of the biggest concerns scouts and analysts had with Drew Lock coming out of college was inaccuracy or at least accuracy consistency issues.

Through four years of college, Lock has plenty of tape in which he does, in fact, struggle to play at an elite level and complete passes at a high clip.

Every stat line tells a story, however, and Lock has a very underrated trait despite his perceived accuracy issues that indicates those worries may be a bit irrational or misplaced.

Among 2019 rookie crop of quarterbacks, no player in this draft did a better job of making good decisions with the football than Lock.

This statistic is a great way to represent something on tape that you can’t always just say without putting numbers or evidence to, but Lock does a great job of taking care of the football and taking calculated risks.

He has the skill set of a gunslinger, but Lock does not operate with reckless abandon. Does he retreat in the pocket at times when he could step up? Sure.

Does he occasionally get sloppy mechanics and trust his arm strength more than he probably should? Sure.

But Lock doesn’t have a bunch of throws on tape where you sit there and think, wow, at the NFL level that pass is going to be picked off.

He takes care of the football, reads the field, and makes good decisions with the football without constantly checking down or folding in the face of pressure.

The best way I can explain it is, Lock has a playmaker mentality but takes calculated shots and uses every weapon in his arsenal in order to make the right plays.

Will he miss some opportunities and open receivers at times? What quarterback doesn’t?

I still, for the life of me, can’t figure out how this guy wasn’t a first-round draft pick. I think he’s easily better than the guy the New York Giants got with the 6th overall pick, Daniel Jones out of Duke.

I think he’s a much better athlete than Dwayne Haskins. I think he’s more charismatic and a better leader than Kyler Murray.

I’m not saying he’s unquestionably a better prospect than all of those guys, but when you put the total package together and factor in Lock’s experience, those traits all stand out.

The game has already slowed down for Lock more than it has other prospects. He may retreat in the pocket at times but it’s not because he can’t handle pressure. On the contrary, Lock handles pressure exceptionally well, as evidenced by this statistic.

He doesn’t panic with the football. He doesn’t just yuck the ball up into coverage when pressure is bearing down all the time.

There are lapses in judgment, but as you can see by this graphic above, his lapses in judgment happen far less frequently than most quarterbacks.