With a name like Drew, we should have been an NFL quarterback. Think about it: Drew Brees, Drew Bledsoe, Drew Stanton, Drew Henson. It’s our favorite QB name, for obvious reasons. And now we can add Drew Lock to the list.
Perhaps if in middle school we had not been thrown violently to the turf, knocked unconscious, while releasing a lame-duck lollipop into the air that somehow fell to the ground in our only pass attempt, we could have a different timeline, one that led to the NFL. Instead, we have a career stat line of: one attempt, zero completions, zero yards, zero recollection.
At least there are plenty of Drews still carrying the mantle. And the latest made a significant splash Sunday.
Broncos rookie Drew Lock didn’t embarrass himself in his pro debut in Week 13 against the Chargers — 18-for-28, 134 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, 15 yards rushing, 12.9 fantasy points). He did fine. But there was little reason to expect what came next.
He completed 22 of 27 passes (81.5 percent) for 309 yards, three touchdowns, one interception and 15 yards rushing in Sunday’s surprising thrashing of the Texans. That was good for 23.9 fantasy points, the eighth-best fantasy QB performance of the week heading into Monday.
Granted, the big game came at the expense of the 27th-ranked defense against opposing fantasy QBs. In the past six weeks, the only QBs who failed to top 23 fantasy points against Houston were Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew.
So what happens next week, when Lock faces a Chiefs defense that ranked just 21st against fantasy QBs heading into Week 14? Well, it might not be as simple as that. That defense has been better of late.
Over the past three games, QBs have averaged 10.8 fantasy points against the Chiefs, and none had more than one passing touchdown.
But let’s go back further. In Week 10, Ryan Tannehill had two TD passes but just 181 total passing yards. They gave up three-TD days to Aaron Rodgers and Kirk Cousins in Weeks 8 and 9. OK, bad stretch, and those two games skew the overall numbers. Prior to that, they gave up zero or one TD pass in five of seven games.
Lock is a rookie, inexperienced and unpredictable, and now he is heading into a matchup that is trickier than the raw numbers might reflect. There is reason to be optimistic, but it is wise to keep that enthusiasm in check.
If you are platooning at QB, or worried about bad matchups for Aaron Rodgers, Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins, Matt Ryan, Josh Allen, Sam Darnold … even Jared Goff or Mitch Trubisky, don’t bite on Lock, at least not this week.
Come Week 16, the fantasy championship in most leagues, well, Lock faces the Lions. He is in play then. So if you’re in QB hell, grab him now and stash for next week.
