Drew Lock gets one season to prove he’s the guy or it’s time to move on
Apr 30, 2020, 6:32 AM | Updated: 6:33 am
Drew Lock started the final five games of the 2019 season and finished with a 4-1 record. The rookie quarterback completed 64.1 percent of his passes, threw for 1,020 yards and seven passing touchdowns, and only tossed three interceptions. That’s pretty impressive.
But here’s a fun fact: Trevor Siemian started his career as the Broncos quarterback with a 4-1 record, 1,054 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions through his first five games, as well.
Lock has proven that he deserves to start all 16 games in the 2020 season from what he showed in those final five games last year. That will give Lock a total of 21 starts to start his career. That is more than enough for the Broncos to decide if he’s the future of the franchise.
John Elway has given Lock all of the weapons that he needs to succeed. The gunslinger was given Pro Bowl wide receiver Courtland Sutton and stand out rookie tight end Noah Fant in his rookie year. This offseason, Elway has provided his quarterback one of the better pass-catching running backs in the NFL with Melvin Gordon. Denver also went ahead and drafted the top wide receiver in the draft with Jerry Jeudy, who I’ve compared to Antonio Brown on the field, and drafted the speedy wide receiver K.J. Hamler, who runs in the 40-yard dash in the 4.2 to 4.3 range. Lock will also get tight end Albert Okwuegbunam, who was his tight end in college at Mizzou.
Lock will have the weapons to succeed, plus a lot of potential on a defense. That group was ranked in the top 10 in scoring last season.
If Lock struggles and can’t get this team back into the playoffs in the upcoming season, it would be time for the Broncos to make another quarterback change. But for who you might ask?
Aaron Rodgers: There were rumblings and reports that Rodgers and Matt LeFleur were not getting along last season. Well now that the Packers traded up in the draft for quarterback Jordan Love, it looks like Green Bay is looking ahead for the future and the chances of them moving on from the Super Bowl MVP are becoming realistic.
John Elway brought in Peyton Manning, why wouldn’t he be able to bring in Rodgers?
Trevor Lawrence: This will be a challenge because the Broncos would have to own the No. 1 pick to draft the star out of Clemson, but it’s the draft and you never know what could happen. Lawrence has been placed in the same category as quarterbacks Elway, Manning and Andrew Luck as the best recruits of their generation.
Justin Fields: The Ohio State quarterback was the No. 1 high school recruit in the entire country as a dual-threat quarterback. Fields played for Georgia for just one year as Jake Fromm’s backup before transferring to Ohio State. There’s no doubt that Fields will be a top-five pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and if the option is there for the Broncos, they would be smart to draft the dual threat QB.
The bottom line is, the Broncos don’t have time to sit and wait around and hope that Drew Lock is franchise quarterback for years to come. The second-year quarterback has all the weapons to be successful in John Elway’s eyes and if the Broncos fail once again, they must grab one of the three star quarterbacks listed above to move push this franchise into the right direction.
