Drew Lock reminds his teammates of these two all-time QBs

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Drew Lock knows he is a “gunslinger.” It’s in his DNA not just as a quarterback, but as an athlete, all the way back to his years as a high-school basketball standout in Lee’s Summit, Mo.

Gunslingers keep firing, even when they miss.

“It’s kind of like being a three-point shooter. You can start the game 0-for-5, but I’m definitely going to shoot the sixth one,” Lock said. “I’m going to throw a couple of picks here and there, but in my heart and in my gut, I know the couple of picks will turn into a couple of touchdowns.”

So far, that has been the case. Lock has five touchdowns and three interceptions — one in each game. The good has outweighed the bad — just as it did for the first name that usually comes to mind when you think of an NFL gunslinger.

“He reminds me of [former NFL QB] Brett Favre, kind of like a gunslinger,” defensive end Shelby Harris said. “It’s fun to watch him play. I have faith in him. I’ve seen him practice and play. He’s just only going to get better.”

Favre is the NFL’s all-time leader in games with multiple interceptions, according to pro-football-reference.com. He was also the NFL’s all-time leader in completions, passing yards and touchdown passes at the time of his retirement following the 2010 season. And in the last quarter-century, no one threw more touchdown passes when down by one score in the final two minutes of regulation than Favre.

“The good plays will outweigh the bad with being a gunslinger if you do it correctly,” Lock said. “That’s kind of what it means.”

When they do, you have Favre. When the bad plays outweigh the good ones, you have Jameis Winston.

But safety Will Parks sees something different than Favre or any other “gunslinger.”

“I don’t see Brett Favre, just because his confidence overtakes so many attributes in a quarterback,” Parks said. “If I’m talking Drew, I’m going to say — I’m going TB12 [Tom Brady].”

“Damn,” I replied.

“Yeah, I’m going TB12,” Parks said. “Just confidence off the roof. Being as young as he is, with the throws that he’s been making — even some of the throws that he’s making off his back foot — they’re on the money.

“So once he [fixes] that kind of mistake, and starts to take matters into his own hands, I think he can turn into a Tom Brady-type of guy, who just runs way more.”

Granted, Lock will never be in the Steve Young/Lamar Jackson class of quarterbacks who are as likely to make plays with their feet as with their throwing arm. But the mobility he possesses has added another dimension to the offense, giving it the flexibility to have empty-backfield sets that keep linebackers honest because Lock can tuck the ball under his arm and move the chains.

Brady? Favre?

The Broncos don’t care which one Lock is. If he manages to replicate either of them, they’ll have their quarterback answer for years to come.