In the hearts and minds of most local and national media, Drew Lock was kicked to the curb like yesterday’s trash. After failing to fully capitalize on the fleeting opportunity he was given to be the guy in 2020, Lock became worse than an afterthought, as the Denver Broncos publicly pursued almost all veteran quarterbacks, even if tangentially available on the NFL market .
Lock’s dislike of the national perspective has been a topic long before the Broncos called him to the second round two years ago. But, like some sort of hater virus, the scorn for Lock has now been transmitted to the local level and it seems that everyone in the Denver media (almost) has a serious case of ‘Lock sucks’.
The only voice in the national media that ran against this trend was FOX Sports radio host Colin Cowherd. But that changed a lot last fall when Lock suffered a throwing shoulder injury that made him lose 2.5 games.
Cowherd has now fully assumed the banner for all haters of Lock in the media and the shock athlete’s latest diatribe has taken him to another level.
“He is not, as the children say,” Cowherd said on Wednesday. “Very casual. He just doesn’t play with enough urgency. He played AAU basketball – a little too cool for the room and that – nice guys don’t win in this league. Baker [Mayfield] tries to be really cool. Johnny Manziel tried to be really cool. Cam Newton was sometimes more concerned with being cool. Don’t be cool, be urgent. Be kind of stupid. As every move matters – Drew Lock does not play with that kind of urgency. He lets go of a lot of balls that you just wouldn’t throw in high school. Just pitches not good enough, so it’s done. But now it’s official. Denver is looking for a quarterback now. “
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Cowherd had been fascinated by Lock’s “coldness” for months. The hot FOX Sports performer went from advocating for Lock’s arrogance and the ‘it’ factor that came out of the caller’s rookie campaign, predicting him to be the next NFL “pop” quarterback, to condemn his confidence and machismo.
In the wake of Michael Lombardi’s report (which was refuted by all Denver informants with a phone), who claimed that the Broncos almost did a QB blockbuster last week, and that GM George Paton and team leaders left Lock completely as candidate candidates for 2021, Cowherd doubled his disrespect for the former Missouri star. Cowherd believes that Lock is finished, defeated, destroyed and that he will not get a second chance from the Broncos or any other NFL team.
“What’s really going on in the NFL now, it used to be when you were a quarterback, you joined the league and you had a chance. Drew Brees was the exception. If you got hurt or didn’t work, it was over,” said Cowherd. “It’s all done now. You have a second chance now. Carson Wentz is going to have one. Sam Darnold is going to have one. I think Jameis Winston is going to have one. Cam Newton has one. Marcus Mariota, I think, is going to get one. Ryan Tannehill has one. So why is this happening now? Why do defenders get a second chance? “
I don’t know, Colin. Tell us why the defenders have a second chance now – ignoring second-shot ex-heroes like Rich Gannon, Jake Plummer and Kurt Warner.
“There are two things. A.) It is just a more transactional league. There are more deals going on all the time and the defenders, like everyone else, can be moved,” said Cowherd. “Number 2 is, [it’s a] bigger deal than ever, more money than ever. GMs and coaches are less patient. Then, they will simply walk away from you – it does not mean that the league will walk away from you. This means that your team is more willing to get away from you quickly. “
While I agree that NFL teams are much less inclined today to suffer long-suffering for a highly drafted QB to turn the corner, there are many examples of teams coming out of the storm and holding a highly drafted player during the term of their rookie contract . If you don’t know when a QB ends its four or five year rookie contract, then it’s an answer in itself. That, I will recognize.
But Lock is entering Year 3 and with 13 of his 18 starting in a season influenced by a pandemic that saw his OTAs and preseason disappear while a new offensive coordinator took over, there were too many mitigating factors to make me feel confident in any Lock evaluation based only outside 2020 (good or bad). Play the avalanche of injuries, including your No. 1 receiver, Courtland Sutton, and Lock himself, and I don’t think there’s enough to say emphatically that Lock can’t be the guy.
On the other hand, I am not naive. Lock has not proved that he is the guy, hence the dilemma in which Paton finds himself as a GM for the first time. But, remember, it’s not like Lock has shown absolutely no promise. He has two decisive games of prolific production on his resume and, although this did not translate into team victories as in his debut year, Lock improved in the final stretch in 2020. Starting from Week 11.
Cowherd doesn’t want to hear.
“And, with this flow of excellent college quarterbacks ready to play, the teams play the dice more. Joe Burrow came in with a bad O line and a bad team and we knew in the second week at halftime, [the] guy can touch, “said Cowherd.” Drew Lock, [I] I thought it was interesting for about five, six or seven games. Now we have 18 [starts], [the] guy can’t play in this league. He will not have a second chance. There is an old rule in the NFL – I have said this several times – you cannot have the fourth best defender in the division. If you do, you will have to walk away from them. So, at AFC West, [Patrick] Mahomes is number 1, [Justin] Herbert is number 2, [Derek] Carr is number 3. Drew Lock is not number 4. Marcus Mariota, Carr’s backup, is better than Drew Lock, so Drew Lock is the fifth best quarterback in his division. It doesn’t work like that. You have to get off him. Nothing against the boy, but with 18 starts, he is very casual, many choices – he is simply not buttoned. You have to get off him. ”
Listen, it’s Cowherd’s job to have bold and controversial opinions. But something tells me that his disdain for Lock has more to do with the bold ‘pop’ prediction of the radio’s personality not coming to fruition than anything QB has done.
The odds are, unless Paton is able to move mountains and get Deshaun Watson out of Houston’s hands, or get Russell Wilson out of Seattle, Lock is going to get his third year in Denver anyway. If so, Lock’s reports attacking the off-season of 2021 and living at Broncos headquarters would be expected to pay dividends and be lost to the team next fall.
The Broncos invested time and resources in Lock. The team roamed the QB desert with Lock, absorbing the jabs and punches from their NFL learning curve along the way. Abandoning that investment now, when the Broncos may be on the verge of reaping profits, would be the epitome of madness in the humble estimation of this NFL writer.
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