Broncos Film Room: Meet Drew Lock, your future franchise quarterback

After a somewhat underwhelming day one of the draft, the Denver Broncos absolutely killed day two. First adding a plug-and-play offensive lineman in Dalton Risner and then moving up 10 spots in the second round to get their quarterback of the future in Missouri’s Drew Lock.

We’ve talked about Lock throughout the process, there’s a lot to unpack here, let’s dig in.

Strengths

• Lock possesses a superb combination of arm strength and athleticism to throw on the move, two areas in which he was one of the most gifted passers in the 2019 draft class.

• He’s a four-year starter who led Missouri to a top-25 finish despite being outmatched by SEC opponents on a regular basis.
• Second on the SEC’s all-time passing yards list despite having to overcome adversity at every turn. 

• Has strong intangibles and is a three-year captain who overcame three different offensive coordinators and improved every year.
• Lock made major strides in 2018 with his ability to handle pressure, read defenses better and became more accurate on his secondary reads. 
• Came along in a major way under the tutelage of coordinator Derek Dooley who installed more pro-style concepts and put more pre-snap responsibilities on Lock’s shoulders.
• Can absolutely slice up defenses when throwing to his primary read, will benefit from half-field reads and bootleg throws that allow him to just unleash his arm.

• Is very talented throwing on the move with easy arm power to all fields.
• Can improvise and make tough passes out of structure creating magic out of nothing.

• A former basketball player, he’s a high-end athlete who can be a threat as a scrambler and scored six touchdowns last season.

• Has an incredibly strong arm down the sideline, can step up into pressure and make big-time deep throws.

• Has zip over the middle and can thread the needle in tight windows.
• Possesses a nice combination of zip and touch and can lead his receivers to perfection, when locked in.

• Has shown stretches of really good ball placement underneath, leading his receivers to create extra yards after the catch.

Weaknesses

• Lock’s biggest issue is his footwork, which is inconsistent and has led to his accuracy not always being on point.
• He can be frustrating as he’ll miss easy throws with inconsistent footwork and different arm angles when he doesn’t need to use them. His greatest gifts can be his curse at times.
• While he can throw an impressive deep ball, his accuracy on vertical throws isn’t always perfect. He too often sails throws and can be almost overly conservative overthrowing targets out of bounds instead of sticking the ball into a tight window.
• He’s had struggles with pressure and accuracy to secondary reads but has cleaned up most of those aspects in his final season.
• Needs to throw with more anticipation and more touch on short throws where he can have easy misses.
• Had poor showings against Georgia and Alabama’s talented defenses and in poor weather against South Carolina. Hasn’t always played his best against the best competition.
• Remains raw with insane flashes of special ability but also a myriad of inconstant throws.
• Will need to be groomed playing under center and get experience with more pro concepts.
• Has got into bad habits with his footwork, relying on his arm too often and making risky passes off of awkward footing. Won’t be able to get away with such plays in the pros.
• He’s had to take big risks and put the offense on his shoulders in his career, and that’s led to all sorts of bad habits that he needs to work on fixing up.

In conclusion

Denver got their passer of the future for the modest price of a fourth and sixth rounder to move up and lock down the Missouri quarterback.

His upside is very high due to his combination of athleticism, arm strength, and underrated polish having started four years in the SEC.

He can get hot in stretches and take over drives, scoring in an instant with all his talent and ability, that’s who he can be at his best. More importantly, the strides he’s made are very encouraging. His downside is that he can be maddeningly inconsistent and make boneheaded mistakes.

Lock is an ideal fit in Rich Scangarello’s offense, where he can zip the ball on play-action bootlegs and stretch the field vertically, forcing defenses to cover every blade of grass, opening up space underneath.

In fact, because of his mobility, he is an even better fit than Joe Flacco in this offense and the potential to groom him for years to come makes him a particularly enticing developmental piece. If Scangarello can continue his development and clean up his footwork, there’s no telling how good he can be.

The value of taking our 20th best prospect in the entire draft at 42 overall, and the third-best quarterback in the class, is incredible. This was a slam dunk pick that could prove to be franchise-altering in a few years with very little downside if Lock doesn’t pan out.