Although the Denver Broncos have stopped short of ‘crowning’ Drew Lock the jewel of the franchise, John Elway is pleased with what he’s seeing.
The Denver Broncos have stopped short of crowing Drew Lock the future of the franchise, but what we’ve seen from Lock is too good to ignore or just write off at this point.
Lock has done enough in two starts to keep quarterback at the bottom of the ‘needs’ list this coming offseason, at least in terms of finding the future at the position.
Although Vic Fangio has made sure to keep the praise to a dull roar, the opinion that matters most in regards to projecting Lock’s future belongs to general manager John Elway. Elway and the Broncos have liked Lock for a long time, and managed to play the draft board flawlessly this past year, getting him in the early portion of round two.
I still don’t understand how that happened.
Lock was always a first-round talent at the quarterback position, and we’re seeing that fleshed out on the field in his first two starts. Elway was asked on Elway Access about Lock’s first two games and what he’s seen from the rookie.
"“Well I mean, I think we see that he, physically, that he can play in the NFL and has a chance to be a very good quarterback. We just have to take it one step at a time and see how he continues to improve. Obviously, with what we’ve seen in the first two games, it’s not too big for him. Again, getting back to the physical side of it, he’s got that ability. So, we’ll continue to take strides each week but we’re excited to see where Drew is, obviously.”John Elway via Elway Access"
So from what Elway is saying there, he’s seeing that Lock is physically up to the task of playing in the NFL and by saying that the game is not ‘too big’ for him is an indicator that Elway is noticing Lock’s intangibles at play.
Unlike some rookie quarterbacks, who look like fish swimming out of water, Lock has flourished and is out there coordinating premeditated touchdown celebrations with his teammates ahead of the first road start of his NFL career.
Lock went into Houston, albeit against a bad pass defense, and shredded the playoff-bound Texans in a way no rookie QB ever has in their first road start. Literally, in NFL history, no quarterback has put together as strong of a performance as we saw from Lock in his first road start.
The great thing is, there’s also plenty of room for improvement. Although Lock has made a lot of plays, he’s also showing areas where he needs to progress, namely throwing passes off his back foot unnecessarily at times, his two (bad) interceptions, and general timing with some of the receivers.
That will come with time. The progression we’re seeing from him is fascinating. I think a lot of Missouri fans would say seeing Lock able to throw to players like Courtland Sutton and Noah Fant is a dream come true, as he had no one even remotely close to that talented in his four years at Missouri.
The Broncos are going to have an opportunity this offseason to surround Lock with talent and really build a contender around him.