John Elway’s best move since becoming the Denver Broncos’ team executive in 2011 was signing Peyton Manning as the team’s quarterback. That helped them reach two Super Bowls and win one. After he retired, quarterback has been Elway’s biggest weakness and his total undoing.
Since Peyton Manning, Elway has played Brock Osweiler, Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch and Case Keenum at quarterback. He used a first-round pick on Lynch, a 7th-round pick on Chad Kelly, and has swung trades for Keenum and his latest starter, Joe Flacco. Maybe Manning’s mediocrity the year they won the Super Bowl convinced him he doesn’t need stellar play at the quarterback spot, because he keeps settling for average-to-below average QBs.
His latest project is Drew Lock.
With the No. 42 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft on Friday, the Broncos took the Missouri quarterback.
There was some belief before the draft that Elway liked Lock so much he might take him in the first round, but the team wisely selected Noah Fant instead. They were able to get Lock a day later.
We had Lock as our third-best quarterback in the draft, but will he even be better for the team than Flacco? That’s unlikely. Between adding the mediocre Flacco and Lock, Elway seems to be repeating the same issue he’s had the past three years, though at least this crop is somewhat better than the Siemian/Lynch/Keenum group.
