The missed bye week gives the Broncos more time for their real goal
Oct 13, 2020, 6:14 AM
The Broncos missed bye week is both a blessing and a curse.
For the players, it’s definitely a curse. They practiced all week for no game and won’t get that key week’s rest in the future for this season.
For Broncos Country, this is a blessing. There’s now even more time to figure out if Drew Lock is the franchise quarterback. That’s what the rest of the 2020 season is about, is Drew Lock the QB this team has desperately needed since Peyton Manning retired?
2020 is about figuring out if Lock is the Broncos QB of the future. With top prospects in Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields entering the 2021 draft, the Broncos need to know if Lock is the guy they build a team around. If not, they will most likely be a top draft pick and would need to seriously consider drafting either Lawrence or Fields. This missed bye week gives them that much more time to evaluate Lock.
For the players, this is pretty much a nightmare scenario. An entire week wasted on practice for no game. This is one of the most-injured teams in the league. If anyone can’t afford to be pushed around by the league like this, it’s the Broncos. With the league not looking to budge, the most we can hope for is this adds a little chip on the team’s shoulders.
The Broncos need to evaluate Drew Lock, and they’ll need him as close to 100 percent as possible. With this missed week, we’ll get more time to see what he can do, and not battling through an injury. The Broncos can’t have him out there at 50 percent, losing his confidence and forcing mistakes.
This season is important, though they have little chance at making the playoffs, they do have an opportunity to find out who their young QB is. This missed bye week gives them more time to do that.
