Denver Broncos rising sophomore quarterback Drew Lock came into the 2019 NFL Draft as a pretty hot property. In fact, not only was he projected as a first-round pick, a lot of people though he could go in the top 15.
Instead, Lock went through a sort of slip down the draft. He was finally snatched up by the Broncos in the second round, with the 42nd overall selection.
Then his year started with an injury, meaning he didn't even have a chance to begin the year as a starter. However, once healthy, Lock took over the duties under center. And in that time, he gave the Broncos a lot to get excited about.
Does Lock have elite potential though? Or was that small sample size more of an outlier?
First, let's look at the numbers. Lock appeared in five games for the Broncos in 2019. In that time, he completed 100 of 156 pass attempts (64.1%) for 1,020 yards and seven touchdowns with three interceptions. He even ran for 72 yards on 18 attempts.
Most importantly, Denver went 4-1 in that time.
If you were to spread those numbers out over a 16-game season, the Broncos would have gone 13-3. Meanwhile, Lock would have had 3,264 yards with 22 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
So, the numbers for the quarterback would have been solid. Not fantastic or anything, but good enough, especially coming from a rookie. Remember, the Broncos had also gotten rid of some weapons and went 3-8 without Lock as the starter.
Lock's individual games were a little all over the place. His first two games saw him throw five touchdowns compared to two interceptions. One of those games had him complete 64.3 of his passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns (one interception). Then the next he completed 81.5% of his passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns (one interception).
Lock's next game saw a 45 completion percentage for 208 yards and no touchdown (one interception). Followed by two decent games that saw one touchdown and no interceptions each, but under 200 passing yards each as well.
There was a pretty big disparity between the games. Lock had some absolute bangers, but some really “eh” to “poor” games in there as well.
However, he was a rookie. A rookie coming off an injury. So, inconsistency was expected. The fact that he even had any great games is impressive.
Lock definitely has arm talent, and has shown he can translate that in games. He did so with very limited weapons on a team that was struggling mightily before he took over.
The fact that he was so high up on draft boards at one point shows a lot of teams believed he had tons of potential. Then he went out and showed that was true.
Lock definitely has elite potential and could be the next great quarterback of the Broncos. Now it's up to him to fulfill that potential.
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