Why one QB guru sees exactly what the NFL is looking for in Steven Montez

BOULDER — Before the sports world shutdown, Steven Montez and other pro hopefuls on the Colorado Buffaloes football team gathered for their pro day.

Montez, who we caught up with at the Senior Bowl, has been working with the quarterback guru of our times in Jordan Palmer, who is also training presumptive top pick Joe Burrow, has trained Josh Allen, Sam Darnold and even Denver Broncos starting quarterback Drew Lock.

If you’re a college quarterback who wants to take their game to the next level and be developed into a high pick in the NFL Draft you want to work with Palmer, an insightful teacher who trains quarterbacks with meticulous but compartmentalized details.

With his unique insights on Montez and what it takes to play quarterback in the midst of an offensive revolution in the NFL, here’s what Palmer had to say in its entirety, from why he wanted to work with Montez, what his training has consisted of, why this is a unique time in a player’s development and even his thoughts on Drew Lock’s first season as a professional.

DNVR: We spoke with Steven down at the Senior Bowl and he talked about how you’re really working with him on his footwork, and he feels that his footwork is key to unlocking his game. What are you working on and why is his footwork so important to his game?

Palmer: Well, I think part of it is when fans and media talk about footwork it’s really vague, right? And so there are certain types of footwork you need to work on. When you are talking about throwing, just getting back on platform, having your feet the same distance every time, all your cleats in the ground, that’s more or less just moving and throwing. That’s a repetition, comfort level, pattern type thing. But then there’s these college players that are in gun all the time, and they go to the NFL, and they’re asked to do things that their college didn’t ask them to do; that’s more or less just learning new footwork. That does nothing to do with talent or ability or work ethic its, we didn’t run that play in college and we have to run it in the NFL; someone’s got to teach it to you. So it’s a combination of getting more consistent, cuz he’s so powerful and he’s so athletic, getting really consistent, and then also teaching him the new footwork which is pretty basic stuff that I do with everybody

DNVR: How has he improved then, from when you started working with him to his time in Mobile, Indy; this is like the fourth chapter in that draft process?

Palmer: It’s been consistent. Each week. I’m really pouring into these guys as people, too. I think he’s really grown a lot really as a young man, finding himself and just processing all the newness and how crazy this whole process is. So it’s a combination of I think he’s grown a lot there, the leadership-communication side of things, I think he’s grown a lot in terms of his football knowledge. He’s gotten really consistent throwing the ball. Again it’s not me, he’s just for three months got to focus on himself and that never happens. The draft process is the only time that happens. College you’ve got teammates, high school you play other sports, you’ve got school. NFL you’ve got a ton of crazy stuff going on in the offseason, it’s busy. This is the only real window in which you can pour into yourself and so he’s grown as much as anybody I’ve been around.

DNVR: Does Montez compare to anyone you’ve worked with?

Palmer: A comp is Josh Allen, I trained Josh Allen for the draft, a lot of the rawness—Josh is a lot more raw than Stephen— but potential ability, explosiveness, athleticism, those things are there…huge arm, big body, powerful athlete, so a lot of those things are really similar, and it’s great. He’s been throwing with Josh Allen every day for the last two months. So for him to grow not just in what he’s hearing but what he’s seeing and what he’s doing is great.

DNVR: It’s funny you make that comp. We spoke last after Josh’s pro day and there are some similarities. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but you are kind of at a point in your career where you get to pick and choose the guys you work with?

Palmer: I, for the most part, I wouldn’t assume that everybody wants to work with me. I’m the perfect guy for certain guys I’m not the perfect guy for others and it varies on all kinds of things, you know? I’m not interested in training a guy who can’t move that has a huge arm, I just think that version of the quarterback in the NFL is dead, so I look for certain character guys but also their ability to move, extend the play, athletic guys who can make all the throws and guys who have a really high capacity to learn a lot of information quickly; I just think that’s the formula. I can’t create any of those things for somebody. Now, I can take somebody who has those things and clean it up and make them more confident, more efficient and so Steven fits perfectly in that category. He’s a big, huge athlete with a good arm who can run around and make plays, he learns really fast so it’s a no-brainer.

DNVR: You worked with Drew Lock last offseason, what did you see from him in his first year as a pro?

Palmer: What I saw, which did not surprise me at all, was just how comfortable he would be whenever his number was called. You know he had an injury, came back, and on a rebuilding team, so just how comfortable he was. But he had, I think it was 57 starts in the SEC, whatever it was it was the most starts in SEC history, so that means something. Most of those games he played in the college in the SEC they were the underdogs, which means you were like the second-best team on the field most of the time and you start every single game in four years. That’s relevant to me. So that transition to being the starting quarterback or getting the chance to be the starting quarterback in the NFL and being really poised, comfortable and confident, that was not a surprise to me to see that, so I was glad to see that he was having fun and being relaxed and not just turning it into something bigger than it is.

DNVR: Fair to say Drew was being himself?

Palmer: Absolutely, you know absolutely, and then the basketball player in him [came out] making plays off schedule, that’s his game. Again, I like training guys that can move and create.