Denver Broncos: 3 reasons Drew Lock must play in 2019

2. Why was Lock drafted in the first place?

He has starting QB potential and upside.

The Broncos did not trade up in the second round to get Lock just to have him be an inexpensive backup to whatever quarterback they would draft in 2020. They drafted him because they believe — at some point — that he can develop into a starter.

Back in April/May, it’s likely no one in the Broncos organization expected the team to be 0-4 at this point in the season, staring at another top-five pick.

With 12 games left, it looks like they will be picking high in 2020, but they still might not be. None of us knows what is going to happen in these final 12 weeks.

Lock was the 42nd overall pick in the NFL Draft. That doesn’t carry nearly the same weight as if the Broncos had picked him 10th overall, but being a second-round pick still carries a lot of weight.

There’s still an expectation based on Lock’s body of work in college that he can be a viable starting option for the Broncos. These traits are worth developing for an NFL team:

• Arm talent
• Leadership/poise
• Playmaking ability
• Mobility

Those are some of Lock’s best traits as a player and two of those traits (playmaking ability/mobility) are not strong suits of Joe Flacco. They are, however, requirements for an offense that moves the pocket frequently.

Regardless of his draft status as a second-round pick instead of being a first-round pick, Lock has tools and intangibles worth developing in the particular offense being run. He certainly needs more time on task on the practice field, but he can only learn so much that way.

If the team continues losing games by the time Lock comes back in week nine, put the young kid out on the field and see if he can play, because…