Denver Broncos must show patience evaluating Drew Lock
Showing patience matters to see a quarterback develop and for Denver Broncos Drew Lock it is paramount.
The Denver Broncos have struggled to find the heir to Peyton Manning ever since he left the building. Due to many factors, it was supposed to Brock Osweiler, but he listened to his agent and not what possibly he wanted long-term.
Once Osweiler left, Denver was stuck in this vicious cycle of rotating quarterbacks with only one of them being a first-round pick. It was apparent once Drew Lock took the field after being selected in the second round, the fate of the Broncos was starting to turn.
Even before the draft selection of Lock, the Broncos had success in the draft the previous year. The trend of Denver’s future was taking a climb upwards with just a selection of Bradley Chubb and Courtland Sutton.
In 2019 and potentially in just one month Denver seemed to find their long-term starter with Drew Lock. Lock was 4-1 in December or Drewcember as they called it. After the season, questions were thus asked if the franchise believed or loved their quarterback.
The events that followed are incredible and anyone who says otherwise would be fooling themselves. Denver built both offense and defense in free agency. In the NFL Draft, the team selected two wide receivers back-to-back and brought in Lock’s former teammate from Missouri.
The Broncos asked Lock about the tight end they would soon select that morning to know who Denver is getting. Are you following along right now?
Point is, just in the offseason alone Denver showed so much confidence in Lock as the guy going forward. Lock is a true gamer at quarterback and will fight to the final whistle. There’s a strong statement to be made that Denver would potentially have a winning record if he started all or close to the five games this season.
This is of course if other factors did not get in the way. The questionable penalty on Alexander Johnson, injury in Pittsburgh Steelers game and thus playing versus New York Jets/Tampa Bay Buccaneers if he was healthy.
Still, nonetheless, Lock sits at 5-3 as a starting quarterback in the NFL. Lock is showing he has the intangibles as a leader to fight when the chips are down. The other raises the play level of those around him. Ever since Lock took the start the targets to almost every weapon have been on display. He makes it apparent to get everyone involved.
We are currently watching Lock’s “rookie season” unfold in 2020. Yes, the official rookie term happened last year. However, five games are not enough to make true judgment calls on a quarterback. Especially if teams are to evaluate quarterbacks in a pandemic.
Lock will need roughly this year and next to show confirmation where he sits on the top 10 pecking order of quarterbacks in NFL and Denver’s long-term answer. The only way Lock plays into confirmation sooner rather than later is if he performs out of his mind in 2020 making Denver do more building around him in the NFL draft.
Other than that both fans and importantly team must show appropriate patience to let develop into quarterback Lock can be.
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The last vital important detail to show patience to Lock is coaching cohesiveness. If Pat Shurmur wants to be a head coach again, then that is his call. However, regarding Lock Denver must do all it can to keep Shurmur around to see a true relationship unfold between both of them.
The other is quarterbacks coach Mike Shula must be a priority to stay as well. Teams could call regarding Shula for offensive coordinator positions or higher promotions, but Shula is another coach where Denver must keep to see the true skill set show for Lock.
We all know Lock has the “Winter Soldier” arm and mobility to extend plays on rollouts. Coaches will need to work with him regarding footwork and proper base. Lock’s greatest strength and weakness are falling back to show off the golden arm. The coaches should not change this, but they can properly tell Lock once he is standing upright to try not to do it regularly. Making it a habit results in frequent mistakes at times for those gunslinger quarterbacks. Make it simple for him.
Lock is already showing to be the permanent long-term starter. Denver just needs to continue their evaluation and patience into next year to truly get an idea of where they stand with him.