Did Drew Lock’s debut impress the most important judge in the building?

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – There is one judge that Drew Lock must impress above all if he is to be the Broncos’ starting quarterback beyond the final weeks of the 2019 season.

That arbiter is John Elway.

And what captured Elway’s attention in his evaluation process went beyond any aspects of the stat line or leadership qualities from the second-round pick. In fact, it was the sort of thing that is best understood by someone who was once a young quarterback himself in a scheme considered to be complex.

After all, in 1983, that was Elway.

“I can still remember over 30 years ago, my first start and how fast things were moving around,” Elway told the Broncos’ website.

He walked into an offense that then-coach Dan Reeves brought with him from a decade and a half as a player and coach with the Dallas Cowboys under Tom Landry. It took him a rookie season of fits and starts and multiple benchings – one for a half, another for a month – to position him for a splendid pair of games in December of his rookie season that provided the final propulsion for the Broncos’ return to the playoffs.

The Broncos’ offense of 2019 is intricate, as well – and given the deceptive looks used by defenses in the NFL, helps turn the simple reads of college into confounding mazes that have left many a quarterback lost.

“In college, you run the RPO [run-pass option], you’re reading this single guy, you’re reading that single guy, where really it’s a wide frame of things in the offense nowadays [in the NFL],” Lock said. “You could be killing plays to where you didn’t necessarily change too many plays when you’re in college.

“There’s just a lot more little-detail stuff that you’re going to have to pick up before you can get the ball in your hands, which is just way different than what it’d be like in college.”

It’s one thing to see it.

It’s another to handle it.

And then a final step is being able to go back to the sideline and explain what he saw and why he made each decision. This is a crucial step, because it’s where the quarterback understands what he does and why. It takes a quarterback beyond just winging it. Reaching this level gives him a chance to master the cerebral aspects of the game.

That’s what Elway saw.

“I think the good thing is he was able to repeat back to the coaches what he was saying when he came off the field and what he saw and why he went different places and he had answers for all those,” Elway told KOA in his weekly radio interview.

“And that is a real good sign, when a guy – especially in his first start – and I’m sure things were going real fast for him, but they slowed down as the game went on, and I think the really good thing was that he could repeat back to the coaches what he saw, and had a reason why he did everything he did, and that’s a really good start.”

Another positive aspect that Elway saw was the placement of Lock’s throws.

“What I saw is you can tell he’s a natural quarterback in the fact that a couple of times he didn’t throw to the receiver; he threw away from the defender,” Elway told KOA. “And I think that’s a big part of when you see a quarterback that’s had a lot of success, they throw away from defenders, and he did that a couple of times.”

One example of that kind of throw was on an incompletion to Noah Fant. It will be on him and the Broncos’ other receiving targets to adjust. But Lock’s ability to reduce the risk of a giveaway while giving his receiving target a chance is one key attribute Elway needed to see.

“They weren’t complete, but he threw away from defenders, and that’s a good natural start for him,” Elway said.

And for Lock, it was also a good start toward showing the boss that the team belongs in his hands.