As the regular season drew to a close and the Denver Broncos worked their way to a 5-11 finish, many thought the team continuity key that many in the vicinity of the organization had defended in recent weeks of December.
While it’s likely that the Broncos won’t undergo a full overhaul from the front office, to the tech staff, to the roster in 2021, continuity went out the window just as John Elway decided to … get promoted by being relieved of his duties as general manager.
Elway will still have some say in some of the hiring decisions for the Broncos going forward, but all indications are that he will be in a role similar to Baltimore Ravens’ former GM and now executive adviser Ozzie Newsome. Instead, the Broncos’ next general manager will retain power and have the final say in roster decisions when it comes to free agency and the NFL draft.
The one area that seems to be more in the air as Elway steps away from his former role is the future of Drew Lock and the quarterback position.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that one of the boisterous outlets when it comes to proclaiming how valuable the quarterback position is would be pounding the table for the Broncos to be interested in selecting a QB, and maybe even move up the ranks. come in the draft. Pro Football Focus identified the Broncos as one of five teams in position to be aggressive for a draft swap for a QB, including the Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers, and New England Patriots.
PFFs Michael Renner suggested the following exchange for the Broncos’ new GM:
SELECT NO. 9: Denver Broncos
What it would take
Broncos are singled out: 4
Broncos give choices: 9, 40, 111 + future 3rd
Ultimately, John Elway’s downfall in his tenure as general manager was his passivity in the quarterback position. Whether Paxton Lynch, Trevor Siemian, Case Keenum or now Drew Lock, Elway seemingly always took the scraps of the draft or the free agent in the main position. While the NFL may not always make high picks, they are at least good at identifying talent that deserves high picks, as it has been nearly impossible to find a quarterback outside of the top 15 in the past half-decade.
Now with Denver at a pretty reasonable trade-in distance, that should change. It doesn’t mean you have to give up Lock. It just means they don’t put all their eggs in the Lock basket like they did last season. They now have too many playmakers offended to put their playoff hopes on Lock’s inconsistency, which led to a 63.4 passing figure in 2020. While the Broncos could wait and hope that one of the best guys will get all the way to nine fans have also seen how often a quarterback takes after the rest have been picked.
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Lay of the land
Denver Broncos
With Elway having one foot out the door when it comes to staffing decisions, it seems like trading for a quarterback is more of a possibility than previously thought possible. From insiders 9 NEWSMike Klis suggests that the new GM will push to upgrade the quarterback position, and probably through draft, to Woody Paige, much the same on Twitter, there is legitimate smoke at what appeared to be a hypothetical fire recently.
It’s impossible to know until the new GM is hired, but no doubt there are more options on the table than before with Elway and his man in Lock.
However, it looks like the Broncos for the most part won’t have any sales to change them this year, despite bringing in a new GM. The coaching staff are expected to return largely intact – sorry for those who want to make special teams coordinator Tom McMahon disappear. McMahon might get to see the door, but he might as well come back.
There will be some big decisions about today’s big free agents like DL Shelby Harris and S Justin Simmons, as well as some tender questions revolving around limited free agents like RB Phillip Lindsay, WR Tim Patrick and LB Alexander Johnson.
It’s no secret that Elway is and was one of the biggest supporters of the Lock in the Broncos organization. When Elway was expected to return as usual for 2021, Lock was expected to get another year as The Guy.
But with Elway moving to other areas to help run a soccer team, Lock’s future is much more uncertain. Whether that’s fair or not really matters in a results-based company like the NFL.
Left to right: Trevor Lawrence of Clemson, Justin Fields of Ohio State, and Zach Wilson of BUY.
USA TODAY Sport
A new GM will not be “married” to Lock as the previous regime would have been. The door has been opened for discussion, especially for the Broncos to be seduced by one of the best non-Trevor Lawrence quarterbacks in the 2021 draft class, such as BYU’s Zach Wilson, Justin Fields of Ohio and Trey Lance of North Dakota State.
It’s also fair to wonder what head coach Vic Fangio feels about the QB position. When asked to discuss Lock, it doesn’t seem like the old ball coach has been completely sold on the QB as it stands now.
“(Lock) can be [the guy again in 2021]’Fangio said Tuesday.’ He will have to improve, he knows that, we all know. We have to eliminate the negative plays. We have to become more offensive in our entire operation and as a quarterback he is the leader of that unit. ”
Fangio didn’t throw Lock under the bus in any way, but it sure was not neither a resounding approval. On top of what Fangio said in his end-of-season press release about Lock, would it be reasonable to assume that he might like Lock less if he goes back to evaluate the tape?
Fangio has stated in the past that he likes to get away for a while when the season is over so that when watching tape he doesn’t affect his coaching and staffing decisions and eyes. Lock no doubt played better on the trajectory, but given how much Fangio likes to scout a season himself, is he going to see that trendline as real progress?
Or will Fangio take the full sample size of Lock’s season as a whole rather than weighing how the QB played after the season dropped? Confusing questions indeed.
Whether or not you believe that Lock could ultimately be a franchise quarterback, in 17 games, he hasn’t been good enough to lead a team to a playoff berth. Sure, he could turn on the Josh Allen level and become a statistical outlier, but counting on it would be like buying scratch cards and relying on the profit to feed the family; a risky bet with a dubious chance of success.
Lock has started 17 games so far in his career, is 24 years old (compared to 22 for Lawrence, Fields and Wilson and 21 for Lance), and has statistically been a bottom-5 quarterback and struggled with the average or better passing defenses.
Lock has also suffered two injuries in as many seasons that have left him missing time on top of the Broncos with only two years of control over his rookie deal. Place that side by side with a new five years for each hypothetical first-round rookie brought in.
Lock has the arm talent and enough athleticism to be a franchise QB, but 17 games is no insignificant sample size. If your argument is ‘we don’t know about Lock’ after two seasons and 17 games, it means the Broncos should at least evaluate the market.
The Broncos’ may not make a blockbuster for QB in the 2021 design. There will be other suitors for those QB prospects and the costs won’t be low, but in order to compete in the AFC West for the next decade with the likes of Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert, Lock needs to be at least a consistent quarterback out of the 10 -to-15 level that the Broncos can count on year after year.
Remember, even with his improvements along the trajectory, Lock has been a bottom-5 starter this season by statistics. Can Lock make that a top-level QB or does Denver think it can do better and look elsewhere?
That’s probably the first and foremost question the Broncos GM recruiting committee will answer to any candidate with a hat in the ring.
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