Drew Isn’t A Lock, But He Could Be Key

The last few years I’ve become obsessed with food truck culture. Tacos, burgers, Neopolitan pizza, fried rice. You name it, there’s a food truck for it. I also might just love food that’s going to kill me or the show The Great Food Truck Race. Actually, Food Network in general is just quality programming. They have all the Guy Fieri one person could ever dream of. And I dream a lot about having frosted tips, outdated sunglasses, flame button up shirts, and excessive pinky and wrist jewelry. 

Quarterbacks are the food trucks of fantasy football. You don’t need to pay a lot of capital to get quality as long as you know where to look. 

As you can see above, 5 of the top 6 quarterbacks in 2019 were drafted in the 8th round or later, with 2 of them being drafted outside of the top 10 rounds. On the surface, it’s not that impressive, but when you consider that Baker Mayfield, Aaron Rodgers, Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, Matt Ryan, and Drew Brees went before all of these names and only Wentz and Ryan finished as back end QB1s, it adds a little context. Late QB gets repeated year after year, yet the same mistakes are always made in leagues. This is obviously excluding the growing format of superflex. If you’re playing in superflex leagues, by all means, do your thing. 

I do play in a few superflex leagues and Drew Lock is going to be a late target for me. By no means did he have an impressive rookie season with the Broncos, but he did show some potential, and most of the time, potential is enough for late round stabs. In his first two games as a starter he threw 5 touchdowns combined. Although things did slow down in the following three weeks, in week 17 he did carry the ball 6 times for 29 yards. In 3 out of his 5 starts, he had a carry of at least 10 yards. Drew Lock isn’t the next Josh Allen with his feet, but maybe he could be a Mitchell Trubisky Light. 

In single QB leagues, Lock is next to free and in 2 QB leagues he is going at the 8/9 turn. You can get Bridgewater, Roethlisberger, and Burrow a little cheaper but I like the potential of the Bronco’s offense a little more than at least the Steelers and Bengals. The Panthers are a wait and see. Anyways, the entire AFC West is now built on trying to keep up with the Chiefs on offense because that’s really the only way that you stand a chance. The Raiders went receiver heavy in the draft, and well, I’m not quite sure what the Chargers are building towards but it’s not the top of the division. 

In the draft, the Broncos took Jerry Jeudy and are trying to find their own version of Tyreek Hill in KJ Hamler. In free agency the Broncos added Melvin Gordon to an already decent backfield. That’s not even counting the solid core of Courtland Sutton and Noah Fant. If Drew Lock fails this year, it won’t be for a lack of weapons. The Broncos also graded out as the 12th best offensive line in the NFL in 2019, and that includes being in the top half of the league in pass protection. This was without their big free agent acquisition Ja’waun James. If Ja’waun James can play up to his potential in 2020, that’s going to be a big advantage for Lock and the rest of this offense. Last season I was a big fan of getting Sam Darnold later on in drafts, so I’m just hoping that there is enough around Drew Lock that he doesn’t see ghosts as well.