When the regular season was over and the Denver Broncos limped their way to a 5-11, many thought the team would go home continuity key that many close to the organization had been defending in the last weeks of December.
While the Broncos are unlikely to have a full overhaul from the head office, to the coaching staff, to the list in 2021, continuity he went out the window at the moment John Elway decided … to ascend on being relieved of his duties as general manager.
Elway will still have something to say about some staffing decisions for the Broncos in the future, but all indications are that he will play a role similar to that of former Baltimore Ravens GM and now executive advisor Ozzie Newsome. Instead, the Broncos ’next general manager will take power and have the final say in list decisions when it comes to free agency and the NFL draft.
The only area that seems to be more uplifting now that Elway is moving away from his previous role is the future of Drew Lock and the quarterback position.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that one of the busiest outlets when it comes to proclaiming the value of the quarterback position has risen to the table for the Broncos to be interested in selecting a QB and even can be advanced in the draft. Pro Football Focus identified the Broncos as one of five teams in a position to be aggressive for a change in a QB draft, including the Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots.
PFF’s Michael Renner suggested the following trade for the new Broncos GM:
CHOOSE NO. 9: Denver Broncos
What would it take
Broncos are chosen: 4
Broncos give selections: 9, 40, 111 + future 3rd
Ultimately, the fall of John Elway in his tenure as general manager was his passivity in the quarterback position. Whether it was Paxton Lynch, Trevor Siemian, Case Keenum or now Drew Lock, Elway was apparently always taking the remnants of draft or free agent to the most important position. While the NFL may not always have achieved a high selection, at least it’s good to identify talent that deserves a high selection, as it has been nearly impossible to find a quarterback out of the top 15 in the last decade.
Now, with Denver at a fairly reasonable shift distance, that should change. It doesn’t mean giving up Lock. It just means not putting all the eggs in the Lock basket like last season. They now have too many offensive players to put their hopes in the playoffs on Lock’s inconsistency that resulted in a 63.4 mark in 2020. Although the Broncos could wait and wait for one of the top guys to fall to again, fans have also seen it often, as it can turn out to grab a quarterback after picking up the rest.
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Lay of the Land
Denver Broncos
With Elway now having a foot out the door when it comes to staff decisions, it looks like switching to a quarterback is more of a possibility than previously thought. Informed 9 NEWS“Mike Klis suggests the new GM will push for the quarterback position upgrade, and probably through the draft, to Woody Paige iterating almost the same on Twitter, there is legitimate smoke in what looked like a hypothetical fire recently.
It’s impossible to know until the new GM is hired, but there are certainly more chances on the table than before with Elway and his boyfriend at Lock.
However, it looks like, for the most part, the Broncos will not bill for maritime changes this year despite incorporating a new GM. The coaching staff is expected to return intact, sorry for those who want special teams coordinator Tom McMahon to be gone. McMahon could be shown the door, but he could just as easily return.
Some important decisions will be made such as current free agents like DL Shelby Harris and S Justin Simmons, as well as some tender questions revolving around restricted free agents like RB Phillip Lindsay, WR Tim Patrick and LB Alexander Johnson.
It’s no secret that Elway is and was one of Lock’s biggest advocates in the Broncos organization. When Elway was expected to return for 2021 as usual, Lock was expected to get one more year as The Guy.
But as Elway moves to other areas to help lead a football team, Lock’s future is much more uncertain. Whether this is fair or not really doesn’t matter in a results-based business like the NFL.
From right to right: Trevor Lawrence of Clemson, Justin Fields of Ohio State and Zach Wilson of BUY.
USA TODAY Sports
A new GM will not marry Lock as the previous regime would have been. The door has opened for discussion, especially for the Broncos to be tempted by one of the biggest quarterbacks who doesn’t belong to Trevor Lawrence in the 2021 draft class as BYU’s Zach Wilson, Ohio State’s Justin Fields and Trey Lance of the state of North Dakota.
It’s also fair to wonder how coach Vic Fangio feels about the QB’s position When asked to talk about Lock, it doesn’t look like the former ball coach is completely sold into the QB as he is today.
“(Blocking) can be [the guy again in 2021]”Fangio said Tuesday.” He will have to improve, which he knows, we all know. We need to eliminate negative plays. We have to be more efficient in all our operations offensively and, as a quarterback, he is the leader of this unit ”.
Fangio didn’t throw Lock under the bus in any way, but he sure did no a bell endorsement either. In addition to what Fangio told his end-of-season press about Lock, would it be fair to assume that he might like Lock less when he re-evaluated the tape?
Fangio has stated in the past that he likes to step away a bit when the season is over, so he doesn’t let the recent bias influence the decisions and eyes of his coach and staff when he watches the tape. No doubt Lock played better during the stretch, but given how much he likes Fangio exploring a season, will he consider this trend line as real progress?
Or will Fangio take the full sample size of Lock’s entire season instead of pondering how the QB played after the season had slipped away? In fact, perplexing questions.
Whether you think Lock can be a franchise quarterback, through 17 games, he hasn’t been good enough to lead a team to the playoff position. Sure, it could end up having a change of level from Josh Allen and become a statistical value, but to count on that would be like buying zero tickets and depending on earnings to feed the family; a risky bet with a questionable probability of success.
Lock has started 17 games so far in his career, is now 24 years old (compared to 22 for Lawrence, Fields and Wilson and 21 for Lance), and has been a quarterback in the 5th half statistically and has fought against the average or better passing defenses.
Lock has also suffered two injuries in so many other seasons that have caused him to waste time at the top of the Broncos when he only had two years of control left for his rookie deal. Juxtapose it with five cool years for any hypothetical first-round debutant.
Lock has enough arm talent and athletics to be a QB franchise, but 17 games is not an insignificant sample size. If your argument is “we don’t know anything 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 move up to QB in the draft of 2021. There will be other suitors for these QB prospects and the cost will not be small, but to compete in the AFC West over the next decade with Patrick Muhammad and Justin Herbert, Lock will have to become at least a consistent 10 to 15 level quarterback, the Broncos can count on year after year.
Remember, even with his improvements along the stretch, Lock was the starter of season 5 this season according to statistics. Can you turn Lock into a top-level QB or will Denver think he can do better and look elsewhere?
This is probably the first and most important question the Broncos GM recruitment committee will give to all candidates with hats in the ring.
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