Will Drew Lock get playing time in 2019

Mike Clay of ESPN joined 1st & 10 on Orange and Blue 760, and he sees lock playing 4 or 5 games.

The glow of the 2019 NFL Draft is slowly wearing off. The offseason has hit that lull where the most important thing going on is silly arguments about hypotheticals. Rumor and conjecture about draft picks give way to projections and grades. After Mase and Steve serenaded Ryan for his birthday, Mike Clay of ESPN joined 1st & 10 at 10 on Orange and Blue 760 to do some projecting and grading.

The big question that started it all off was in regards to Clay’s projections about the Broncos season, and Joe Flacco and Drew Lock. For reference, Clay has the Broncos winning 5.9 games and losing 12.1 games. That’s enough for third in the AFC West, and gives Denver the 6th pick in the 2020 draft.

The latest 2019 Denver Broncos #ClayProjections pic.twitter.com/c8lTyv5OWZ

— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) May 9, 2019

The interesting aspect of this projection is where it puts Flacco and Lock’s playing time. According to Clay, Flacco will play 11 or 12 games, and Lock will play 4 or 5. The Flacco era will be short and abysmal if this is the way the 2019 season plays out for the Broncos. However, that seems to point to the Broncos heading in the right direction at QB.

That’s an interesting argument to make. Flacco being bad, and handing the reigns over to Lock could mean the Broncos are moving onto their QB of the future sooner rather than later. Broncos Country would be furious with another 5 or 6 win season. If it ushers in the era of the future star QB, maybe that will soften the blow.

Of course, that assumes that lock is the future. Steve Atwater asked what has to happen for Denver to be in the market for a QB in 2020. The name Nathan Peterman was evoked by Clay. That’s would be a collapse of epic proportion for Lock. That doesn’t seem likely, and means Denver will be out of the QB market in the next draft.

Fans have struggled through back to back failures, but the thought of a third losing season in a row seems impossible. It has never happened in my lifetime, which is why I struggle to imagine such a world. If it ushers in Denver’s future star, I suppose it will be seen as a good thing in the future. I’m not quite ready to consider the alternative.

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