Broncos quarterback Drew Lock got a chance to pick the brain of one of his predecessors this offseason.
Peyton Manning reached out to Lock to tell him that he has “a pretty good film set-up at my house if you want to come over and talk some ball.” Lock took Manning up on the offer and Manning said he thinks Lock has been doing all the right things to get better heading into his third season.
Manning also said that he thinks Lock will benefit from having a full offseason and the same offensive coordinator in Pat Shurmur.
“I don’t make excuses or defend Drew and he’s been very accountable in his comments and certainly knows what he needs to do and has a plan to do it,” Manning said, via Ryan O’Halloran of the Denver Post. “But I will say the greatest benefit I had as a player was having the same offensive coordinator for my first 13 years. Tom Brady had the same offensive system for every year and Tampa last year pretty much got it to his system . . . It makes a big difference when you have continuity. In Drew’s second year, he was already on his second coordinator and then you add in the COVID offseason. That’s tough for any quarterback. I can tell that he was excited about getting into the facility, getting with Pat Shurmur and being on the same page because they didn’t get to that last year. They didn’t start meeting until August, which is insane.”
Manning called Teddy Bridgewater a “great addition” to the roster, but the continuity from last year may swing the competition Lock’s way if Manning is right about the benefit he’ll get from it.