Catching up with Drew Lock, who made it to the Super Bowl … just not as he initially expected

SAN JOSÉ, Calif. –– Drew Lock entered the NFL in 2019 dreaming of being in the Super Bowl.

But he envisioned it coming in the orange and blue of the Denver Broncos, leading the team onto the field. Instead, Lock’s Super Sunday close-up will be on the fringe, watching from the Seattle Seahawks sideline as the understudy to Sam Darnold.

For the moment, Lock has settled in as a backup; this is his fifth-straight year in that role, including his final Broncos campaign. But in three of those seasons, he served as the No. 2 behind quarterbacks who had unexpected renaissances after becoming reserves themselves: Geno Smith in Seattle in 2022 and 2023, and Darnold this season.

So, Lock has had the chance to get an up-close view at two quarterbacks who started early, struggled and then wound through some time as a backup before getting second chances. Darnold didn’t have to wait terribly long; Smith toiled for several years as a reserve before winning a duel with Lock in 2022 after both were tapped to try and fill the post-Russell Wilson void.

He’s seen their patience rewarded, their experience molded into results, their time on the sideline used to cultivate growth.

The chances Lock has had to show his progress have been limited: two starts in 2023 with the Seattle Seahawks and five with the New York Giants a year later. His 2023 work was solid, punctuated by a dramatic Monday Night Football comeback over the Philadelphia Eagles.

Working against a stacked deck a year later, he struggled, although his penultimate start saw the sort of dazzling apex that tantalized Broncos Country, a 17-of-23, 309-yard, 4-touchdown, no-interception sizzler that fileted the Indianapolis Colts.

Peak Lock is still sensational.

If he can find more consistency, a Smith- or Darnold-like arc isn’t far-fetched. Certainly he’s grown in many ways.

“I think it’s an accumulation of a lot of things,” Lock said. “How to study. How to be ready for a game.

Having the experience of playing in a lot of games, whether that’s the adrenaline going into it, how do I handle this situation, all right? There’s 1:30 left, we’ve got one timeout, I probably would have handled it differently my rookie year than I would now. When to attack. When to be smart. I think there’s a lot that goes into that answer.

“But to sum it all up, I’ve got a whole lot more up here,” he added, pointing to his head, “than I did back then.”

“BACK THEN” DREW LOCK GAVE THE BRONCOS HOPE

For a brief moment, the second-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft held the hopes and dreams of Broncos Country in the palm of his hand and on his cannon right shoulder.

But the promise of five season-ending starts — during which the Broncos went 4-1 — as a rookie gave way to a flummoxing and frustrating 2020 season. That campaign was filled with inconsistency, an injury and a disastrous week in which he and the Broncos’ other quarterback fell afoul of the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols, leading to the team being forced to play against the New Orleans Saints without a quarterback.

That year, NFL passing standards were shattered. The league-wide passing efficiency rating was at an all-time high. But in that year, he posted a 75.4 rating; only three eligible quarterbacks were worse.

One was Darnold. That alone shows you how times can change — and quarterbacks can grow.

Lock and then-coach Vic Fangio survived the season, but with a new general manager in George Paton arriving, the coach’s job security wobbled, and he traded for Teddy Bridgewater to create a quarterback competition.

The 50-50 battle went against Lock, and when he returned to the field after a concussion ended Bridgewater’s campaign in Week 15, he struggled. The Broncos were 7-6 heading into Bridgewater’s final start; they lost on the day he left with a concussion and didn’t win again that season.

Four-plus years later, he’s still toiling. His arm remains as lively as ever. And as he showed with the Giants, high-level throws remain clubs in his bag. All he can do is work and be ready if circumstance gives him another shot — just like it did for the quarterbacks he’s backed up in Seattle.

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