Broncos OC Weighs In On Early QB Battle Between Drew Lock And Teddy Bridgewater
The Denver Broncos had hoped that Drew Lock could develop into a franchise quarterback after taking him in the second-round of the 2019 NFL Draft. It hasn’t gone as smoothly as the team had hoped, and this offseason they made a trade for Teddy Bridgewater from the Carolina Panthers.
Bridgewater gives Denver a steady veteran option, a good locker room presence, and someone to push Lock this year. It is very unclear who the Broncos’ starter will be come Week 1. Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur spoke about where the two contenders stand at this point of the offseason.
“They’re both getting better,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “Obviously, they’ve both gotten to work with the ones and share the workload in regards to the reps.
“I’ve seen improvement in Drew with his decision-making, timing and accuracy. For Teddy, it’s more getting up to speed with what we’ve done. He’s right on board with the new things we’re doing.”
Shurmur is pretty confident that both can lead the team to wins this fall, if they’re playing at the top of their games. From the press conference:
“They are (similar) and they aren’t,” Shurmur said.”When folks watch them play or practice, people go ‘this guy can do this’ or ‘this guy can do that.’ But they both, when they’re on top of their game, can execute at a high level, lead our offense, get completions and get the ball in the end zone. They have to just keep doing that within they own skillset to the best of their ability.”
Lock started 13 games for the Broncos last year. He threw for a pretty pedestrian 225 yards per game and 6.6 per attempt. His 57.3-percent completion rate was also a disappointing drop from his rookie year mark of 64.1-percent through five games. Lock finished with 2,933 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions in 2020.
In his first year with the Panthers, Bridgewater’s 2020 was something of a tale of two seasons, which he spoke about this week. Bridgewater’s numbers were pretty impressive through the first half of the year, but after suffering a big hit against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers—after which he admits he should have shut things down—his numbers fell off a clip.
The Denver Broncos have a serious uphill climb, with the Kansas City Chiefs established as an NFL superpower, and two potential playoff teams in the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers. And with the continued rumors about the team targeting disgruntled superstars like Aaron Rodgers and Deshaun Watson, there is plenty of pressure on both of these QBs to perform this year.
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