Denver Broncos: What directions can the team take now?

1. Stay the course (with Lock)

The Denver Broncos’ hope for 2020 all along was to find out more about Drew Lock, good or bad.

The Broncos gave Lock five games at the end of the 2019 season. In those games, Lock helped the team turn things around with a 4-1 record. With the positive signs he showed, the Denver Broncos brought in a number of players through free agency and the 2020 NFL Draft to support Lock’s growth and development.

The biggest free-agent acquisition the team made was Graham Glasgow, an offensive guard. The Broncos then spent money on veteran running back Melvin Gordon to upgrade the team’s weaponry offensively. The team then used its top two picks in the 2020 NFL Draft and three of their first four on offensive players to help Lock ASAP.

Even considering the drastic improvement in Garett Bolles’ overall game in 2020, the Broncos’ offense has certainly not played well on the whole. Lock was one of a number of key Broncos offensive players to suffer an injury early in the season, and the team has simply not been able to find its footing, even with guys coming back healthy.

Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur was brought in to implement a system that would be more to Lock’s strengths, but the best work Lock has done to date has mostly been out of things we saw the Broncos run when Rich Scangarello was the offensive coordinator.

There are seven games left in the 2020 season at this point in time. The Broncos are undoubtedly going to continue to ride it out with Lock and hope that he can turn it around in that time. In order to truly ‘stay the course’, it’s likely that Lock is going to have to string together games like he did at the end of 2019 when he was not turning the ball over as much and putting the offense in position to succeed.

There is no doubt that Lock has the physical tools, toughness, and leadership to be an NFL quarterback. The question at this point is whether or not Lock has the chops to play the position well consistently. The Broncos’ coaching staff has been preaching that Lock needs time on task. He needs to learn from his mistakes and grow from them.

If Lock plays more like he did against the Chiefs and Raiders the majority of this season, it’s much less likely to happen, but I wrote last week that the Broncos and fans should keep their faith in the young QB.

After a loss like the one in Las Vegas, that’s obviously incredibly hard to do. It’s hard to stay positive in any respect, but those guys have to go to work for another seven games this season.

Even if Lock shows glimpses in the next seven games but has more struggles and head-scratching mistakes, there is an argument to be made that the best option for the Broncos going forth is to stay the course with him as the quarterback.

Rookie struggles are not uncommon, though there are more players transitioning quickly to the NFL than there were even just five years ago. Lock’s struggles have been amplified by the fact that everyone in Broncos Country is sick of losing.

Going into 2021, are the Broncos going to be in position for a better long-term alternative to Lock? That is the big question. There are certainly options for trades or free agent moves or draft choices, but you’re also taking a risk by going that direction.

The Broncos have a very talented young core of players, but are they a quarterback away from contention? Maybe. Is that quarterback available to them in 2021? Maybe.

Is there a chance things could click for Lock even down the stretch this season and into 2021? Also maybe.

There is no guarantee the Broncos would go into the 2021 season fully healthy, but is it worth trying to go into another season with Lock as the starter, give him what would hopefully be a “normal” offseason, and hope that the free agent moves, draft picks, and development of everyone else around him?

Getting Courtland Sutton back would be huge in itself, but the Broncos will hopefully also have right tackle Ja’Wuan James and tight end Albert Okwuegbunam. Defensively, Von Miller will hopefully be back along with Jurrell Casey, Mike Purcell, and obviously whatever the team would do in free agency and the NFL Draft.

It could be worth sticking with the core the Broncos have and believing the process will allow them to take the next step together as a unit.