The most dividing question in the Mile High City right now centers on quarterback Drew Lock and whether the Denver Broncos have found their franchise guy.
The Broncos' current trajectory suggests that for a fourth consecutive season, the team will finish with a losing record. With an overall record of 4-8, the Broncos will hit the road for Week 14’s matchup against the Carolina Panthers.
Lock has undoubtedly been under scathing criticism for his decline in performance from his rookie season to now. On one hand, Lock has earned the heat with a 55.4 completion percentage and 9-to-13 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
On the other, it’s obvious that offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur’s scheme doesn’t support Lock’s strengths and is hindering his development. Whatever the explanations are for Lock's apparent regression might be, the bottom line is, patience is wearing extremely thin.
However, the evaluation process must still be completed through the end of the season, at least. On Tuesday, ex-Broncos QB Brock Osweiler joined 104.3 The Fan’s The Drive and it didn't take long for the Lock question to be asked. Osweiler's take on Lock and how much benefit of the doubt or patience the Broncos should afford him, might raise some eyebrows.
“You can see that he’s a confident guy and carries himself with confidence and swagger which I think is a must for the quarterback position,” Osweiler told Tyler Polumbus and Darren McKee. “You can tell he loves the game and plays with a passion. He’s got a big-time arm. But at the end of the day, he’s a young guy. I know there’s a lot of chatter going on about him right now and it's tough. The majority of quarterbacks, when they come into the National Football League, very few come in ready to play day one. Most guys, including myself, need time to go out there and play and make some mistakes and learn from those mistakes. From the little bit that I’ve seen, I think Drew has all the tools. Obviously, [GM] John Elway has put his stamp on him. He does his research on quarterbacks so I’m sure Drew has everything to get the job done.”
Osweiler and Lock share dramatic differences in their respective profiles as signal-callers but one common thread is that both were hand-selected by Elway in the second round of the NFL draft. Osweiler was drafted in 2012 out of Arizona State to be the heir apparent (in-waiting) to Peyton Manning.
On the road to Super Bowl 50, Osweiler finally got his chance to start after Manning injured his foot. Osweiler impressed teammates, and fans, through his seven starts, passing for 1,967 yards and 10 touchdowns with six interceptions while finishing with a completion percentage of 61.8.
Later, Osweiler would be benched in Week 17 for the now-healthy Manning, who orchestrated a late comeback win against the Chargers to secure the No. 1 playoff seed in the AFC. The rest is history, but after the confetti of Super Bowl 50 wore off, Osweiler shocked Broncos Country by defecting to the Houston Texans and signing a four-year, $72 million contract which came with $37 million guaranteed.
From there, Osweiler's NFL path wasn't fortuitous and although he ended up back in Denver for a fleeting time in 2017, he'd ultimately burned the golden opportunity to be the Broncos' post-Manning franchise QB. The question now in Denver centers around how much time the Broncos should afford Lock to prove himself before turning the page and cutting losses.
“I would give a guy, personally, three years," Osweiler told McKee and Polumbus. "A lot of people would call me crazy for that but I just think back to my career. It probably took a good 20 starts, not just playing in games but 20 starts, where you knew you were going to be the starter. It takes a long time before you truly feel comfortable in this league. There’s obviously some guys that have stepped in since day one like Andrew Luck or Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes.”
Three years.
After Lock’s impressive rookie debut in which he led the Broncos to a 4-1 finish, the team was finally able to start supplementing the offense with weapons like Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler. But right now, Lock is struggling in his progressions and to distribute the football to the playmakers.
Although Jeudy has been his most-targeted receiver this year, the connection — and more importantly, the touchdowns — aren’t coming. After garnering just one catch for five yards on four targets in last week's loss in Kansas City, Jeudy's frustrations have boiled over into the court of public opinion.
Maybe the Broncos can save Drew from himself. Right now, the turnovers are haunting the young quarterback, and the buzz around the campfire is that Denver could be on the hunt for a veteran next season.
If that’s the case, would it be such a bad thing? Maybe such an approach would allow the competitive juices in Lock to start flowing. Or maybe it’s just what the Missouri native needs — some football rehab.
“I think of an example like Ryan Tannehill," Osweiler said. "He’s been in the league now for nine years and I think there was a time period where unless you kind of lived in Florida or watched the AFC East a lot, you didn’t hear a lot of things about Ryan. Now, Ryan’s in Tennessee and had a tremendous season last year and is playing great football again this year... I think these quarterbacks need some time to go out there and make mistakes and adjust to the NFL game.”
Other NFL quarterbacks who either stepped away from the game or saw the bench before having a career resurgence include Kurt Warner, Michael Vick, and Nick Foles. Right now, the optics suggest that there could be a quarterback competition in 2021 and whoever that might be is not yet on the team.
Obviously, there’s a human element in all of this and the pressure on Lock right now is immense. It takes one to know one, as they would say, and Osweiler understands the highs, but more importantly, the lows, of being a struggling quarterback in the NFL.
Osweiler told his former teammate Polumbus, “I just think too many people are just quick to judge. I think the 24/7 365 media cycle puts a lot of pressure on GM’s and coaches and players to have such a quick hook on some of these quarterbacks. So, I’d like to see the guy get another year. Once again John drafted him for a reason. John believes in him and thinks he has all the tools to be successful. So, give the guy some time to show that.”
Follow Luke on Twitter @LukePattersonLP and @MileHighHuddle.
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