Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Drew Lock went 4-1 as a starter this season, throwing seven touchdown passes against three interceptions. Going into the 2020 offseason, is Lock the penciled in starter for next year?
“I don’t see any [other] options right now,” general manager John Elway said during his end-of-season press conference Monday. “Obviously, he finished and did a heck of a job and won four out of five games and played well, but he still has a long way to go. He has a lot of work to do.
“We’re excited about where Drew is. [I] don’t like to show our hand, but I think it’s unrealistic to say that we’re going a different direction.”
The Broncos have found their man and his teammates know it. Star running back Phillip Lindsay knew it from the moment Lock was drafted.
“We all knew that he was special,” Lindsay said on Dec. 22. “Mr. Elway and them went out and drafted him, and had the belief that the kid could do the job and later on possibly be a franchise quarterback.”
Now Lock will have an entire offseason of being “the guy,” which will help the offense develop chemistry going into the 2020 season.
“[I’m] extremely happy that I can come in here and just put my face on it, put my stamp on it, be the guy, talk to everybody like I’m the guy, walk around this facility like I’m the guy to where people can really start feeling me and who I am as a person, who I am as a leader for this team,” Lock said Monday.
“It’s just going to be really fun — not worry about all the other outside . . . when I got here, Joe [Flacco]’s the guy — let him do his thing. Now, hopefully when I come back, I can just be that face for everybody that they can come to and talk to.”
With Lock under center, perhaps Denver can snap a four-year playoff drought. The Broncos haven’t reached the postseason since Peyton Manning retired following a 2016 Super Bowl win over the Carolina Panthers.
