I can’t believe there are so many broncos fans who think Drew Lock is destined to be terrible and has zero upside. The guy has lots of physical tools; starting NFL QB is routinely seen as the hardest position in sports, and we routinely talk about OTs, TEs, WRs, DLs, etc hitting their stride in year 3-4, or being really average and then figuring it out by the second contract…standard for evaluating QB potential seems to be unreasonably high, especially for the hardest position in sports.

Lock may never turn into even a starting-caliber QB, but I’d argue that all but 2 current QBs (Rodgers and R. Wilson) are almost entirely scheme dependent, and toolsy QBs (even if average-to-poor mentally) can be serviceable to MVP-caliber if put in the right system (e.g. Cam Newton/RG3 – elite physical traits/average mental QB, Wentz – above average physical traits/average mental QB, Tannehill – slightly above average physical traits/average mental QB). All of these guys have had several years of success as an NFL QB, and now all are basically viewed as bums.

I think scheme and coaching to the QBs strengths, and how good the O-line is , probably makes a huge difference, especially early in a QBs career. I don’t think Dak gets to this level of production/performance if his O-line and strong run-game weren’t elite during his first few years, and then he was able to grow into being a better QB.

I agree that Lock is not the current answer to start at QB, but it’s the hardest position in all of sports, and former MVPs (and some HoFs too) have started off struggling at the position. Wentz was going to win the MVP a few years ago before he got hurt, and now he’s one of the worst QBs in the league. Do we really think he just forgot how to be almost-the-MVP, or was it the scheme and players around him that elevated him? RG3, Cam Newton were both revolutionizing the position, then sucked when asked to run different offenses. To my eyes, a lot of other teams do a better job of trying to build their offense around what their QBs do best, whereas recently the Broncos have seemed to keep trying to force a guy to run the system, irrespective of whether it’s a good scheme fit or not (e.g. Keenum and running almost no play action, Jeudy doing decoy jet sweeps, Fant being left alone to block edge players, etc).

Elway and PFM both would’ve been cut after their first 1-2 years by our current QB standards in Broncos country. I would also agree that Lock is never going to be a top 5 QB, but do you really think he couldn’t be decent in a Tannehill role for a run-heavy offense with a good defense, like there’s no chance? I just think so many players, and especially QBs, are scheme dependent and success or failure has more to do with the team around them (something we acknowledge without controversy for almost every other position). Yes, there are a handful of guys who are scheme-independent, but those are the elite guys, but you don’t have to be elite to find overall team success. Even Lamar Jackson would probably look like a bottom 15 QB if he was in a system that didn’t highlight his running ability like the Ravens do. I may be in the minority, but I also think Mahommes would look incredibly pedestrian, and the narrative would be “elite arm, poor decision making” instead of “likely GOAT” if he was on almost every other team in the league; the Chiefs scheme and personnel fit his talents near perfectly…and he still has moments were he looks like a garbage QB when what he’s comfortable with isn’t working.

Not advocating for Lock starting for us 2022, but he’s neither as bad/hopeless or as good as most of Broncos country seems to think (IMO). His career stats aren’t much worse than Baker’s and on any given year are eerily similar, but I think Baker is still viewed as a decent starting QB…at least one where there’s potential he could be good? IDK, just seems crazy that people view him as so completely busted that nothing could possibly elevate his game to even competent starting QB, but want us to draft any one of the QBs in this draft as an alternative (where would Lock rank if he was in this year’s draft)? He doesn’t deserve anything in particular (he’s not owed anything, it’s a production-based league), but seems like having him on the roster, learn as backup, and see if he can turn into anything is pretty low risk way to approach it.