Drew Lock is looking to prove doubters wrong in 2021

Drew Lock had his first chance to address the last four months of speculation over the Denver Broncos quarterback situation and he didn’t disappoint.

When asked if it was difficult to block that noise out, he asserted that the outcome of the teams decision at the position has no bearing on how he plans to prepare for the 2021 season.

“No, believe it or not,” Lock said. “It was not because I decided that I was going to develop a plan this offseason. It was going to be really long days, but it was going to be worth every single second of it because regardless of what happened, if I stayed here, I left or they brought someone in, my mindset was not going to change wherever I went. If I went somewhere or if I stayed here, I was going to be the guy. I put every single ounce in that this offseason. Being able to do that gave me zero time to listen to all of this stuff. Maybe I’ll go back one day, read and laugh about things that were being said by people who ended up being completely wrong.”

Lock is working hard and confident enough to believe that this noise about him not being an NFL-caliber starting quarterback is going to come back to bite those pundits in the rear. If it works out, there will certainly be plenty to go back and laugh about for those who never lost faith in Drew Lock.

As for Lock, his biggest focus has been to study what he did wrong last season and gain more comfortability on Pat Shurmur’s offense. He kind of alluded to the fact that having a new offensive coordinator last year was a more difficult adjustment than people realize.

“As far as me possibly finally being in the offense that I ran the year before, it was really fun to be able to do stuff towards that this offseason,” Lock said. “Being able to learn some more, being able to dive in and being able to go back in watch, all of the things I watch now, I wasn’t very good. How do I make that better? What was I doing wrong? Instead of having to start over new like I did in years before, I feel way more comfortable in this stuff that is going on, especially just being out there today. I can feel how much more comfortable I am. It also evolved into not just the mental side of it, but the footwork stuff. Being able to do some stuff in my basement where I could do a lot of drops down there, put the TV up, hook the laptop up and just find ways to take your time through drops when you’re in Denver in January and February and it’s a little chilly outside. I managed and kind of adapted so to say.”

That last part about working on footwork could be a huge payoff. Lock’s struggles have come through two main aspects to his game. The first is decision making when throwing the ball. He left a lot of wide open receivers out there in 2020, but as Lock said in the first part of the above quote, he is hard at work identifying how to fix that. The other issue was his sloppy footwork.

If Lock can fix both of those issues, he could absolutely make a Josh Allen type leap in year three. It’s also good to hear Lock’s mentality is in exactly the right spot as quarterback rumors continue to be heard in and around Denver.