Hey, we all want Drew Lock to be the next great Broncos quarterback. OK, maybe not John Elway or Peyton Manning great. We’d gladly settle for Jake Plummer. So it’s a dang shame Lock keeps playing like the next Blake Bortles. Just good enough to get you beat in a big NFL game.
“Trust me,” Lock said Wednesday. “I want to be great as bad as the people at home watching the game want me to be great. I want it more than they want it.”
But do you trust Lock?
Can Broncos personnel chief John Elway really afford to be patient and gamble the team’s future on a quarterback who has demonstrated that trusting him with the football or COVID-19 safety protocols can put Denver in a bad spot?
We all know 2020 has been a messed up year. From lack of preseason preparation to a devastating injury to receiver Courtland Sutton, it hasn’t been easy to be Lock. Not nearly as hard as being a nurse or school teacher during a pandemic, but tough nevertheless.
So I asked Lock his level of patience, especially when knuckleheads like me grow antsy waiting for him to grow into this job.
“We live a world where everyone wants everything really fast. Everyone wants it right now. And we get that with our phones. You want to click on an app, it’s going to pop up instantly. It’s the same thing in football. You want greatness really, really fast,” Lock replied.
Then, to draw lines of emphasis under his lofty ambition, Lock repeated: “Trust me, as bad as people want (greatness) from me, I’ve always wanted it more.”
OK, Drew. But you are what you do, not what you say.
So while I believe Lock wants to be great, I’m not sure he knows what it takes. He stubbornly refuses to accept his limitations, most notably that he cannot throw a football through the same tight windows Elway did. While the failure to follow strict COVID safety protocols that resulted in Lock being banished from the New Orleans game shouldn’t be an indictment of his character, it did raise concerns about his lack of attention to detail.
Yes, Lock is a mere 24 years old and has started only 14 NFL games. Neither offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur nor the practice limitations imposed by the virus have done Lock any favors.
Patience is required with a young quarterback. Patience is good. But Lock is the worst starting quarterback in the league. His quarterback rating (67.1) ranks below both Carson Wentz (72.1) and Sam Darnold (67.2), often cited as busts with their current teams.
Here’s what is more concerning to me: By almost any measurement — completion percentage, frequency of interceptions, net yards per pass attempt, won-loss record — Lock has regressed from his five starts as a rookie.
He looks more like the next Jake Locker than the next Jared Goff. Patience is earned by quarterbacks who learn from their mistakes. In an unforgiving league, there’s little patience for QBs who regress.
With the Broncos rolling toward a finish outside of the playoffs for a fifth straight season, patience is not Elway’s ally. I’m not certain a veteran quarterback is the answer in Denver, even if 32-year-old Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions part ways.
The 2021 NFL draft, however, is intriguing, because the depth of quarterback talent goes beyond Trevor Lawrence of Clemson and Ohio State’s Justin Fields, projected to be taken off the board with the first and second selections in the opening round.
With a 4-8 record, the Broncos currently sit at No. 10 on the tentative draft board. Lose out, and Elway could pick in the top five. Is Lock a better bet at quarterback than Trey Lance of North Dakota State, Zach Wilson of Brigham Young, Kyle Task of Florida and Mac Jones of Alabama?
Can Lock establish he’s the quarterback who will return the Broncos to glory during the final four regular-season games? He thinks the offense could break out this weekend, when Denver travels to Carolina.
“It’s going to happen,” Lock insisted. “And it’s slowly happening.”
Slow is not sufficient when patience is wearing thin.
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