Drew Lock
#3 Quarterback by Football Addicts
Born: November 10th, 1996 (22 years old)
Height: 6’4
Weight: 225 Lbs
Position: Quarterback
University: Missouri
About Drew
Drew Lock was a highly coveted quarterback coming out of high school, but was born a Mizzou Tiger. His father was an offensive lineman for Mizzou, and even his grandfather was a Missouri Tiger. Rivals ranked him as the 6th best Pro Style quarterback in 2015, gaining offers from Kentucky, Missouri, and even offers from Oklahoma and Wichita State for basketball. As a true freshman, it took Lock just 4 games to become the starting quarterback, and only threw 4 touchdowns to 8 interceptions that year. Lock showed his ability to soak in an offense, and be a student of the game as he completely transformed as a quarterback. In 2016, he lead the SEC in passing yards with 3,399, and was 2nd in yards per game (283.3) and yards per completion (14.34). He would finish the season with 23 touchdowns to 10 interceptions, and rose his passer rating nearly 40 points to a 133.5. Once again Drew Lock would make the most out of his offseason, and turn in one of the best passing seasons the SEC has ever seen. As a junior Lock would throw for 3,964 passing yards and 44 touchdowns to 13 interceptions. Those 44 touchdown passes would set the SEC record for touchdown passes in a season, and earn him First Team All-SEC honors for 2017. It is hard to outperform that season, but Lock would give it his best attempt in 2018 by throwing for 3,498 passing yards, 28 touchdowns to 8 interceptions, and a career best 63% completion percentage. Lock was able to lead his 2018 Tigers to an 8-5 record, which was the best record they have had since 2014.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
Drew is your prototypical height and weight for an NFL quarterback, though we are seeing that matter less and less every year. Lock has been able to show he has one of the most talented arms in this quarterback class throughout his 4 years at Missouri. He can read a defense, and have the ball out of his hands quickly. He is a good athlete for the position, which I believe he demonstrated well at his Pro Day at Missouri. All of these strengths have other scouts praising the upside that Lock will bring to the table.
Weaknesses
He needs to work on his footwork and stance when throwing to become a more consistent passer. Lock had times it seemed any form of pressure put on the pocket, Lock starts to get berserk with his feet, and ends up throwing off his back foot for really no reason. At the Senior Bowl he flashed accuracy but then also flashed his knack to get fazed by pressure too easily.
NFL Draft Projection/NFL Comp
NFL Draft Projection
Even after all the quarterback shuffling that went on this off season, there are still a few teams that don’t have a promising future at the quarterback position. I would look for teams like Miami and Washington, as well as the Chargers or the Broncos, to go after Lock as they are all teams that most likely will miss out on Murray or Haskins. Since Miami has popped up with names like Bridgewater, and Tyrod Taylor, I think they are trying to wait till next year to draft a quarterback. The Broncos will have the perfect chance at selecting Lock with the 10th pick, and not have to move up in order to do so.
NFL Comparison
An extremely talented arm with major consistency issues, from a smaller SEC school, and projected in the top 15 picks of the NFL Draft? That is Jay Cutler to a T. Considering the talent was never an issue, but the mindset for Jay Cutler, this isn’t a bad thing either. Like Lock, Cutler would tend to live and die by his ability to launch the ball as far as he needed to. If Lock puts in the effort that Cutler never could, I still believe Drew Lock could morph into a solid NFL starter for years to come.