Here are 5 reasons the hype for Broncos QB Drew Lock is legit.
The disparity in opinions regarding Denver Broncos quarterback Drew Lock in the 2020 offseason has been pretty comical.
In one corner, you have the big bully that is the Boston media calling Drew Lock, Jeff Driskel, and Brett Rypien the literal worst quarterback group in the entire NFL heading into 2020.
In another corner, you have Colin Cowherd of FS1, who has been hyping up the Denver Broncos and Drew Lock the entire offseason, most recently saying he thinks that Denver has a shot to dethrone Kansas City in the AFC West.
https://twitter.com/ColinCowherd/status/1270540605848825856
The majority Broncos Country seems to fall in the middle of both of these extreme opinions, many keeping a healthy level of optimism regarding Drew Lock after his impressive 4-1 finish to the 2019 season. The way the Broncos followed up Lock’s impressive finish as a rookie was basically spending an entire offseason building around him and investing in him.
Even Lock felt the love coming from the front office.
"“I think the move just ended up saying that they saw something positive in the way I played in those last games, potentially being a guy here that could stay for a long time and help the Broncos win as many games as possible. It means a lot to me to see that happen. It puts a little extra confidence on my back. Now at the same time, those expectations do rise when you have so many weapons around you, but I like to say that I hold myself to high expectations. I like to put pressure on myself in general. I think the pressure that I put on myself always outweighs the pressure that comes from media or even friends and family. I feel like the pressure that I hang on my head always means the most in the end to me.” Drew Lock (quotes via Broncos PR)"
Just in case the additions of Melvin Gordon, Graham Glasgow, Jerry Jeudy, KJ Hamler, and Lloyd Cushenberry weren’t enough to convince you that the Broncos were intentionally building this team around Drew Lock, they went ahead and selected one of his best friends from college in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft — tight end Albert Okwuegbunam.
The offseason is always a time for puff pieces about players who have high upside, but there are a number of reasons to buy the hype with Drew Lock and the Denver Broncos.
I want to take a look at five specific reasons why you should be buying the Drew Lock hype in 2020.
1. The most critical people in the building are buying in
One reason you don’t need to veil pessimism as realism is the fact that the people in charge of the Denver Broncos — the ones with the most critical opinions — are buying into the Drew Lock hype.
Vic Fangio convinced John Elway to wait a month after the 2019 regular season to evaluate the team’s tape and individual players so they weren’t biased after the strong finish to the season.
The Broncos are obviously projecting a bit, but you don’t think if they saw some things about Lock behind the scenes, in practice, or in games that they didn’t like that they wouldn’t have taken the opportunity to upgrade this offseason?
We all know how much John Elway loves veteran quarterbacks, and the Holy Grail of quarterbacks was available in 2020 — Tom Brady.
For Elway to pass on the opportunity to get Tom Brady when he had plenty of money and a reasonably strong draw to get Brady to Denver speaks volumes to what this team thinks of Lock both now and projecting to the future.
No one has a more critical opinion of players than Vic Fangio, who at one point in his rookie training camp said that Drew Lock looked like a baseball pitcher who needed to learn how to pitch.
The Broncos also brought in an offensive coordinator (Pat Shurmur) from another team entirely whose opinion of Lock was completely unbiased coming in, even if he did like him a lot coming out of college in 2019.
Shurmur had other options to be an offensive coordinator elsewhere in the league. He chose Denver.
The fact that the Broncos’ front office and coaching staff were unified in their decision to build around Drew Lock is the biggest reason you as a fan can have confidence in this young prospect.
2. The pieces around Lock
With the pieces he had around him in 2019, Lock was impressive.
Not to take anything away from the guys who worked incredibly hard to be on the team a season ago, but the Broncos’ offensive personnel has gotten a dramatic, much-needed makeover in 2020.
The Broncos added the following projected starters/significant contributors in 2020:
- RG Graham Glasgow
- C Lloyd Cushenberry
- WR Jerry Jeudy
- WR KJ Hamler
- RB Melvin Gordon
- TE Albert Okwuegbunam
That’s to name a few.
The Broncos made a number of other additions to the back end of the roster offensively including fortifying their QB room with the athletic Jeff Driskel, whose presence both promotes Lock as the starter and gives a veteran set of eyes to help in the QB room.
Denver is also presumably getting a healthy Ja’Wuan James at right tackle this season and the hope is that Garett Bolles will be improved with more coaching from Mike Munchak.
With an improved interior offensive line, improvements at the skill positions, progression from players who were on the team last year, and a veteran running back to pair with Phillip Lindsay, the supporting cast around Lock is a major reason to believe the hype in 2020.
3. Lock’s command of the locker room (already)
The way Drew Lock went about having to wait his turn in 2019 was admirable, to say the least.
When Lock injured his thumb in the 2019 preseason, it was initially called a 3-4 week injury. Nobody really ‘assumed’ Lock would get a shot in his rookie season to play extensively because the plan was that Joe Flacco would actually end up working out.
That wasn’t the case and when Lock was physically cleared to play, the Broncos were sort of coy about him getting back onto the field, even in practice.
Lock said that when he went on injured reserve, John Elway told him not to treat it like a vacation. He wasn’t planning on that anyway, but Lock said he went to work getting to know his teammates, showing them his personality and getting acclimated to the NFL rather than just putting his head down and showing up for work and doing nothing else.
The way Lock portrayed himself to the locker room obviously worked.
A number of players cited that Lock was a reason they would be willing to sign with the Broncos, including cornerback Chris Harris Jr. who wound up signing with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Lock proved to his. teammates that he wasn’t there to showboat anybody. He earned their respect and earned their trust both on the field and off the field.
The whole locker room is now behind Lock as the starting quarterback, another big reason to buy his hype for 2020.
4. The intangibles
Call ‘it’ whatever you want, but Drew Lock has it.
He has an innate ability to command a room with his presence, showing advanced wisdom and foresight for his age as well as poise and charisma.
What do I mean by that?
Listen to Drew Lock talk a time or two. Listen to what he talks about. Listen to the detailed responses he gives in the way he thinks about or approaches things.
For instance, Lock noticed a detail in his 2019 tape about his foot speed that he wanted to improve for 2020. Here’s his thought process in that:
"“Yeah, without a doubt. I went back and watched a lot of my clips whether that was me in the actual game or when I first started training, just me running. I found little things here and there to help me be more explosive out the gate, staying upright. You’ll see me hunch a little bit when I ran last year. I could have gotten a little more speed standing up straight, just being a little more fluid with how I was moving. I think we did a great job of prepping for that. Hopefully I can display that going into this year.”"
So much of football is about noticing the little things. You have maybe heard John Elway speak multiple times to the fact that the game is not ‘too big’ for Drew Lock. He’s referencing a very important trait for quarterbacks, especially in the NFL.
It’s not that Lock is blaspheming or big-timing the game, but he’s not letting the moment get to him. That is a type of poise that cannot be coached.
Lock has been described by some Broncos fans as “Jay Cutler, but actually cares” and that’s not far off from the truth.
Lock certainly has the physical talent, but that’s merely a fraction of the equation. There are so many subtleties that are lost on young quarterbacks about football that if you let the game become too big for you, it will eat you alive.
Study, preparation, understanding the game, watching film, knowing the offense, knowing your teammates — Lock has even mentioned getting to know the cafeteria staff!
These are all things that indicate Lock has all of the intangible qualities of not just a great football player but a tremendous leader who cares about his peers, surroundings, and the success of other people.
5. Consider the following…
One of my favorite days in school growing up was when the teacher rolled in the TV on a cart and played Bill Nye The Science Guy.
I’m sure many of you can relate.
At some point in every episode of the show, Bill Nye would do a segment called Consider The Following. I’m going to bring that segment to this discussion.
Some rookie stats to think about
Carson Wentz, 2016
- 16 TD, 14 INT
- 3,782 yards
- 62.4 completion percentage
- 79.3 QB rating
Patrick Mahomes, 2017
- 0 TD, 1 INT
- 284 yards
- 62.9 completion percentage
- 76.4 QB rating (win against Broncos)
Lamar Jackson, 2018
- 6 TD, 3 INT
- 1,201 yards
- 58.2 completion percentage
- 84.5 QB rating
Drew Lock, 2019
- 7 TD, 3 INT
- 1,020 yards
- 64.1 completion percentage
- 89.7 QB rating
Prior to Drew Lock, what do all of the quarterbacks on this list have in common? Colin Cowherd has said it before, but they all won NFL MVP (or in Wentz’s case, would have won it had he stayed healthy) in their second season in the league.
Now, Kyler Murray has a really good chance to be that guy in 2020 as well, but why not Drew Lock? He’s got a great supporting cast and an offense with more 11 personnel that will be best suited to his skills.
Lock has some history on his side with second-year quarterbacks having tremendous success, and he’s in a great position to do the same.
We would be remiss if we didn’t put on this list the fact that Lock showed off his tremendous football skils in the five games he played as a rookie. You wouldn’t put this much confidence behind a guy if he didn’t pass the eye test.
While Lock wasn’t flawless, he put some really great things on tape, especially in the Broncos’ road game against the Houston Texans and DeShaun Watson where they looked like fish in a barrel.
All Lock did in that game was become the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to throw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns in his first road NFL start.
There are probably more reasons we could look into to validate the hype surrounding Drew Lock right now, and some of the points we’ve already mentioned could even be broken down further. But these five reasons right here are enough to buy Drew Lock stock for 2020…
…if there’s even any left.