DENVER — Drew Lock aspires to be great, so he’s reaching out to two of the best that have ever played the most important position in all of sports.
“There’s probably going to be some quarterbacks that used to play here for the Denver Broncos that I might give a call [to],” the rookie quarterback said following a thrilling 16-15 victory over the Raiders in the season finale, explaining how he’s going to attack his first offseason as an NFL quarterback.
“I’m going to make a couple of phone calls and talk to some guys who were pretty good at this position and hopefully by the time I have those phone conversations in the next couple weeks, we’ll be able to have an intact plan.”
One of those is Peyton Manning—or PFM as he was often called due to his greatness. The other is the most iconic sports figure in Colorado history, and his boss, John Elway.
Earlier this weekend, both players were selected to the NFL’s Top 100, deeming them each as one of the best 100 players to ever play in the NFL’s 100-year history.
Not bad company for the 23-year old to surround himself with as he navigates his first offseason.
Lock’s been in the NFL for eight months, however, outside of roughly a two-week window in July, he’s been on a strict schedule from the Broncos in terms of what to do, what to eat, how to study, etc. Now, during the offseason, he’ll be on his own for the most part as he’s limited in the amount of contact he can have with his coaches.
That’s where his two mentors, Peyton and John, come in.
Lock will start by asking both Hall of Fame quarterbacks simply what their plan was going into offseasons when they were players.
Then, he’ll get into the nitty-gritty about offseason passing camps. And there’s no one better to ask than the man that put them on the map, Peyton.
“What did you do with your receivers, when did you get them together, when did he feel it was a good enough time to let everyone have a little break and then bring everyone back and focus,” Lock said, detailing the questions he has.
Going into Week 17, Lock made it clear he was going to get his receivers together in the offseason to continue to build chemistry going into the team’s official offseason workout program.
But this won’t be the first time Manning or Elway’s phone will be ringing with Lock’s caller I.D. popping up. In fact, he’s already been relying on both.
Peyton has been “leading” the Broncos’ new QB through his first five NFL starts, both technically and emotionally.
“It’s stuff that you’ve heard as a quarterback before but to be able to hear it from a different voice with a different twist, it’s nice to have that guy in your corner who can maybe talk you through some scenarios that might pop up in that game,” Lock said of his conversations with Manning over the last month. “I reached out to him hoping that we could talk, and he was really quick about responding and we got on the phone.”
The “biggest” conversation No. 3 had with No. 18 was leading up to Lock’s first road start against the Houston Texans in Week 14. Peyton explained to the rookie how to manage road games and that it’s important to be “super-duper good” on first and second down.
It took Peyton Manning 17 starts to get his fourth career win in the NFL. It took John Elway nine starts.
With the mentorship of Peyton and John, it took Drew Lock only five starts.
He only hopes his success continues on that route with the continued mentorship of two of the greatest to ever play.
