ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — With 13 games down and only three games to go, the biggest question for the Denver Broncos still remains.
Is Drew Lock the team’s future at the most important position in all of sports?
Entering Sunday’s Week 14 game against the Carolina Panthers, Denver’s second-year quarterback had a negative touchdown-to-interception ratio, a league-worst 55.4 completion percentage and one of the worst passer ratings in the NFL at 67.1.
Sunday, against the Panthers, Lock put up one of the best performances the NFL has seen this year. The former second-round pick tossed four touchdowns to no interceptions, a 77.8 completion percentage and an NFL-best 149.5 passer rating.
The day after Lock showed his elite potential, Vic Fangio was asked if the team is still evaluating the 24-year-old quarterback for next season.
“Well, I think everybody is always being evaluated each and every week,” Fangio said on Monday, starting with the typical coach-speak before revealing more. “Obviously, we’ve committed a lot to Drew here. We want to see him keep improving and we’re hopeful and anticipating that he will.”
John Elway made the entire 2020 offseason about Drew Lock. Not only did Elway not bring in any competition for Lock, but he also surrounded him with nearly every tool imaginable.
The Broncos dropped $11 million per year in free agency on Graham Glasgow at right guard to help protect their young signal-caller. During the draft, Elway went all-in on the young quarterback, using his first and second-round picks on talented receivers, a third-round pick on a center and a fourth-round pick on Lock’s favorite tight end in college.
The commitment to Lock was undeniable. That, however, didn’t translate to great quarterback play through the majority of the first three-quarters of the season. Up until Sunday, Lock only had three games on the season in which he had more touchdowns than interceptions.
But against the Panthers, Lock stopped forcing the ball downfield into dangerous situations. Instead, he took the check-down passes until the big plays opened up later in the game.
“He’s got to go through his progressions and be quicker to maybe find the shorter outlets, more so than we had in the past, and I thought he did a good job of that yesterday,” Fangio said on Monday, pointing to an area in which Lock showed improvement. “And when we had something downfield, he did a good job of hitting the guys.”
In the first half on Sunday, nine of Lock’s 12 completions went to running backs or tight ends. Despite only throwing for 85 yards in the first two quarters, Lock was taking what the defense was giving him on his way to a 107.6 passer rating in the first half.
In the two previous games he had played, Lock tried forcing passes further down the field and ended up with interceptions in the first quarter of each game.
Against the Panthers, Lock followed the advice of John Elway, Pat Shurmur, Mike Shula and Brett Rypien and played within his means. That turned into a 149.5 passer rating—the best in the NFL in Week 14.
There’s reason to believe Lock’s new mindset and approach to the game wasn’t an anomaly. Fangio credited Lock’s ability to go through his progressions to part of the growth process that many young quarterbacks experience.
“It’s just the natural maturation process for any young quarterback, especially for a young quarterback that’s into a new system without the offseason work and a shortened training camp,” the head coach stated on Monday. “I do think he’s progressing along those lines each and every week and hopefully, the feedback that he’s getting from watching the tape from yesterday will help him make another big step moving forward the next three weeks.”
The Broncos obviously don’t expect to see the type of stat line Lock had on Sunday for the remaining three games of the season. Instead, they’re looking for, and are anticipating, his continued improvement.
