Suppose you could time travel back to the point we were about to make the Russ trade. Assume that we’ve just been told Aaron Rodgers wasn’t coming to join his pal Hackett so that is off the table.
The options are:
- Trade for Russ. Remember the price is a 2022 and 2023 1st, 2022 and 2023 2nd, 2022 5th, Drew Lock, Shelby Harris and Noah Fant. The Broncos will get a 2022 4th back as well as Russ.
- Go with Drew Lock as starter. 2022 is the last year of his rookie deal so if we don’t know already, we can find out if he’s the guy. In the event that we suck with Hackett as coach and Lock as starter, we could look to draft a QB in the 2023 draft class with guys like Bryce Young, Will Levis and CJ Stroud expected to be high first round picks.
- Draft a QB. With the 9th pick in the draft we are probably well set to land one of the top QBs in the 2022 draft, like Matt Corrall, Kenny Pickett, Desmond Ridder, Malik Willis or Sam Howell. According to most projections only one QB is likely to be off the board by the time we pick, and if necessary we could trade up to get our guy.
- Sign a veteran. Matt Ryan has been released by the Falcons. Marcus Mariota, Tyrod Taylor and Jacoby Brissett are available. Jameis Winston still hasn’t resigned with the Saints. We could go with a bridge guy for a couple of years and possibly combine it with drafting a late round QB to sit for a year or two, like Bailey Zappe, Skylar Thompson or Brock Purdy.
Which do you choose?
Choose carefully because you’ll soon face the judgement of the 2022 Broncos fans.
Honestly, I’d say the inflection point would have been rolling with Lock for the 2021 season rather than Bridgewater. Easy to forget that Denver was 6-5 at one point that year, too. I don’t think Lock ends up taking us very far, but I would have just been intrigued to see whether that could have been a postseason run with him throughout.
At the start of 2021 when it was a Teddy v Lock battle I’d have agreed with you but Lock did get a fair few chances in the 2021 season due to Teddy’s injuries and he didn’t add any spark to the team. He was the same guy he was in 2020.
Back in 2022 I remember saying lets roll out Lock for one more year and see if he is the guy, so I would probably go back and do that rather than trade for Russ, but I would do so being realistic that the likelihood of Lock really taking a step forward would be remote and more than likely it would have tanked us into a top 5 pick, especially with Hackett as coach.