The Broncos still need to draft a quarterback in the first round next season
Oct 24, 2019, 6:06 AM
Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian joined “Stokley and Zach” on Tuesday and said he would wait on Drew Lock. In his mind, the rookie quarterback has been injured this season and he’s missed a lot of reps.
Polian then added, “Throwing him in there now would be nothing more than throwing him into the wolves.” Polian also mentioned that Denver probably won’t get a good enough read on Lock if he was to play the rest of the season.
If the Broncos wait to play Lock until next season, however, that would also be a mistake.
I’ve been told by a number of former players that teams must draft a quarterback every year until they find their guy. Well, teams need to draft that quarterback in the first round and not in the second.
The last five quarterbacks drafted in round No. 2 have yet to start in a playoff game. Since the common draft in 1967, there have been 57 quarterbacks drafted in the second round not counting Drew Lock. Of those gunslingers, only 17 have started in a playoff game. That’s 30 percent!
Of the 53 Super Bowls that have been played, only six quarterbacks drafted in the second round have played on the biggest stage. From those six quarterbacks, Drew Brees, Ken Stabler and Brett Favre are the only second-round quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl. This means that there’s a five percent chance that Lock will win a Super Bowl.
For comparison, 27 Super Bowls have been won by a first-round quarterback. Looking back at the last 20 Super Bowls, 15 have been played with at least one first rounder.
On a conference call Tuesday afternoon, John Elway said that wide receiver Tim Patrick will be coming off Injured Reserve after the bye week in week 10. That leaves only one more slot open for another player to come off IR as well. That player should be Lock, but Elway also said that he wasn’t sure who that other player will be to come off IR.
If Lock is not the second player coming off the Injured Reserve, Denver could bring back running back Theo Riddick, who is guaranteed $1 million this season. It would be a mistake for the Broncos to not bring Drew Lock off IR since the playoff chances for the Broncos are slim to none now.
Lock is currently able to practice with the team, but he didn’t practice last week heading into the Kansas City game. Head coach Vic Fangio mentioned that he didn’t practice that week because it was a short week and that the team mainly did just walkthroughs.
According to reports, Lock hasn’t practiced yet this week either. What gives?
With Joe Flacco off to arguably his worst start in his career after seven games, it would be smart to bring Lock off IR to see if he is the future of this franchise at the quarterback position and see if he can be part of that five percent of Super Bowl winning second-round quarterbacks.
If Lock is not the answer like the odds show, Denver will need to focus on drafting a quarterback in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft no matter what.
