John Elway has full faith that Drew Lock can be the Broncos’ quarterback of the future. That’s why he drafted in 2019 and why he’s backed him this season, despite the many ups and downs of Lock’s second year. 

Unfortunately for Lock, Elway is no longer Denver’s general manager, after announcing Monday he’ll be moving to an elevated role as only the president of football operations. So while Elway still has “high hopes” for Lock, that doesn’t necessarily mean the Broncos’ new GM will have the same opinion. 

Elway will still be a part of the “big decisions” for the Broncos, and he made it clear Monday he believes Lock is a part of their future. 

“I think he, obviously, is a young quarterback that’s got potential and I think he’s got potential to be a very, very good football quarterback in this league and play in this league and lead teams to victories,” Elway said. “Obviously, he’s very young and you never know how that reaction and how that transition is going to go, but I thought that he showed a lot of good signs this year. With young quarterbacks, you’re going to run into inconsistency problems, which Drew had this year, but I think when I look at Drew’s makeup and what he’s about, he wants to be great, he wants to learn, and he wants to get better.”

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Lock showed growth this season, especially down the stretch for the Broncos. He had two of the best games of his career in the final four games of the season. Against the Panthers he threw for 280 yards and four touchdowns. Against the Raiders he threw for 339 yards and two touchdowns. He wasn’t intercepted in those games. 

After a Week 10 loss to the Raiders, when he threw a career-high four interceptions, things turned around for Lock.

In his first seven games of the 2020 season, including that Raiders game, Lock threw seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions, had a completion percentage of 50.41, averaged 213.86 passing yards per game and a passer rating of 62.99. In the final six games, he threw nine touchdowns, five interceptions, completed 61 percent of his passes, averaged 239.33 passing yards per game and a passer rating of 87.35. 

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“I think after the Raiders game, like you mentioned, was a big look in the mirror type of thing for me,” Lock said Monday in his exit interview. “I needed to take care of the ball and at that point everything just started being clear. I knew where to get to with the ball, it was just getting familiar with this offense and certain looks we got for certain plays. I know I sound like a broken record, but it really is about how comfortable you can get back there as a quarterback with the offense and where you go out there and whatever play you call in the huddle, you know exactly what you’re going with the ball — you’ve seen it in multiple looks and that’s just kind of the feeling I got towards the end of the year.”

Those numbers and Lock’s progression will certainly be looked at by the Broncos’ new GM, but with a deep quarterback draft class this year and rumors swirling that Deshaun Watson may want out of Houston, it’s safe to say Lock may not be the Broncos’ starting quarterback come Week 1 in 2021. 

“He can be,” coach Vic Fangio said simply Tuesday. “He’s going to have to improve, which he knows, and we all know. We have to eliminate the negative plays and we have to become more efficient in our whole operation offensively. As the quarterback, he’s the leader of that unit.”

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Asked about possible competition for the starting job, Lock said he will “control what I can control and just get to work and become the best quarterback I can be.”

And in Elway’s eyes, the best quarterback Lock can be is the Broncos’ long-term signal caller. 

“I think that Drew’s has a chance to be a darn good football player in this league,” Elway said. “Now, this offseason is going to help tremendously. Last year, you look at everything that went through as far as no offseason, a new offensive coordinator, which is the worst thing that could have happened for a really young quarterback and our young players. It was very unfortunate what happened, but it was tough on everybody, I realized that too.

“I think this offseason will be a chance for Drew to dig in and work hard, which I know he will, and see if he can make the necessary strides to be able to be that guy.”