Locked In or Locked Out In Mile High

The Denver Broncos have a quarterback competition on their hands between a dink and dunk guy and a gunslinger who has been a roller coaster of consistency through 17 games. I think everyone knows what you get with Teddy Bridgewater, which is a lot of low risk, low reward passes with turning it over a little less than average. As many of us remember last year because of COVID-19, there was no offseason for anyone. Drew Lock went 4-1 as a starter in 2019 and was going into his first season as the starting QB. The team used their 1st and 2nd round picks on Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler to play right next to Pro Bowler Courtland Sutton and 2019 1st round pick TE Noah Fant.

Things were nothing short of a roller coaster for Lock in 2020. He got a new offensive coordinator and new offense to learn without getting a training camp, minicamp, or a preseason along with much less practice time. It seemed to be a domino effect in the Broncos offense. Courtland Sutton got to play a couple drives on the season and tore his ACL. Jeudy quickly had to become the WR1 as a rookie. Whether it was Lock, Jeudy, or Hamler, one of the 3 seemed to have been the falling domino at the time. Jeudy and Hamler didn’t just have struggles, they were #1 (Hamler) and #2 (Jeudy) in the entire NFL in drop %. Lock was as inconsistent throwing the ball in his first 8 games of the year between missing deep ball opportunities and becoming a turnover machine. If he threw a good ball, it got dropped plenty of times and there were plenty of times he missed a wide open Jeudy, Hamler, or Patrick for big gains. He seemed to have found a solid stride in the final 4 games of the season against non-playoff teams, for what it’s worth.

Justin Fields was on the board when the Broncos picked in the 1st round with the #9 pick. New GM’s top QB option was taken off the board when the 49ers selected Trey Lance at #3, outside of Trevor Lawrence of course. Paton’s decision in the draft showed he’s willing to see what Lock has in the tank after getting an offseason, getting his #1 WR back, being in the same offensive system in consecutive years for the first time since he was a junior in high school. Where the Broncos have a safety net is on the defensive side of the ball, where they’ll have a top secondary in football along with Von Miller and Bradley Chubb getting the chance to play together for the first time since 2018. We’ll see how giving Drew Lock another year to be the team’s franchise QB goes in 2021. The franchise might also be banking on the fact that Aaron Rodgers might be looking for a new home in 2022. The Broncos have plenty of talent outside of the QB position to fight near the top of the AFC. However, the quarterback position is just a little important to a team’s success considering 4 of the last 5 quarterbacks to win the Super Bowl are Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, and Peyton Manning. I’d say those are some decent quarterbacks in the league...