As quarterback dominoes continued to fall throughout the NFL on Monday — Matt Ryan from Atlanta to Indianapolis, free agent Marcus Mariota to Atlanta to take Ryan’s place, Jameis Winston to New Orleans — the Seahawks introduced Drew Lock to the media.
And if the timing may have been a coincidence, there are also signs that the Seahawks think Lock, acquired 13 days ago in the Russell Wilson trade, may do more than say hello in Seattle and instead could create a lasting impression.
The Seahawks don’t appear to be seriously pursuing Baker Mayfield and could be content to go with Lock, Geno Smith (expected likely to re-sign), Jacob Eason and maybe another quarterback either via the draft or trade/free agency, but not the kind of investment a Mayfield would be. An NFL Network report Monday stated the Seahawks “would potentially have some interest in Mayfield” but don’t look too interested now.
And if Lock truly becomes the guy for 2022, he promised Monday that everybody can be sure of one thing — he won’t be outworked.
“I’m just gonna have the mindset of competing the whole time I’m here,” said Lock. “I’m gonna come in, I’m gonna work hard. Work harder than anybody else in this building. I’m gonna show it to these guys to try to gain their trust. Show them that I’m here to work and if you put a little faith in me, I have a very talented skill set that will help us win football games.”
What he won’t try to do, he said, is replicate Wilson.
Lock has worn jersey No. 3 throughout his career, including as a four-year starter at Missouri and Denver. But even it if were available for him in Seattle, Lock said he didn’t want to wear it, instead deciding to wear No. 2.
“As long as football goes on Russel Wilson will be very special to this place, very special to Seattle,” said Lock. “And I know what it takes to kind of build a legacy. You know, you wouldn’t go wear 18 in Indianapolis (Peyton Manning). You wouldn’t go wear 12 in Green Bay (Aaron Rodgers). It’s a sign of respect for him from me. But also at the same time I want to write my own story here. I want to make that me. I don’t want to fight against Russell. He’s done so many great things to this place and so many great things for the city of Seattle (and) the state of Washington. I want 2 to be remembered as Drew Lock.”
And what has Seattle gotten in Lock?
A quarterback who on Monday, at least, seemed to speak the language of head coach Pete Carroll maybe more than Wilson ever did.
Asked what he’s learned in his first three years in the NFL, Lock said “being patient.”
As he elaborated: “The other side of the ball gets paid a lot of money to stop you as well. So let’s not make their job easier by putting the ball into not advantageous situations. Let’s be smart with the football. Let’s take the shots when they’re there. And let’s just continuously move the ball — positive chunks, positive yardage every single play.”
Lock said he learned a lot backing up Teddy Bridgewater in Denver last year, and specifically about how to manage a game. Asked to describe what means, he gave another answer that seemed scripted out of Carroll’s “It’s All About The Ball” philosophy.
“(It’s) just calculated risks,” he said. “We know that we’ve got plays that are designed to take a shot, but if they’re not there, check it down. Don’t be afraid to just move the chains. If you gain a yard on this play, it’s a positive play for us. And I think that was a big mentality Teddy took in being safe with the ball at the same time.”
The Seahawks said one thing that drew them to Lock was how he played in the final five games of his rookie season in 2019 when he led Denver to a 4-1 record with a 7-3 TD-to-interception ratio.
The Broncos then fired offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello following what was a 7-9 season and ranking just 28th in points scored in the NFL. Lock didn’t seem to find the same comfort with the offense of new coordinator Pat Shurmur in 2020 with Denver going 4-9 in his starts that year. That he had to try to learn the new offense in the year that COVID-19 made off-season work until training camp all virtual surely didn’t help. He started just three games last year, all losses, after Denver signed Bridgewater.
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The good news for Seattle is Lock said the system he ran with some success in 2019 in Denver is “similar” to what the Seahawks are doing with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
“It’s just the family it comes from,” Lock said. “If you go watch those years when coach Waldron was in LA (with the Rams from 2017-20). Go watch some of the San Francisco stuff, some of the stuff that we ran in Denver. The West Coast (offense) so to say, you can find a lot of similarities whether it’s footwork, whether that’s route concepts, the path from under center. There’s a lot that goes into that but it was a lot of the similar stuff that I ran my first year, even some of the verbiage that you hear, which is exciting because that system holds a dear place in my heart because I was playing really good football at that time and it’s exciting to be able to get back to a system that’s like that.”
The 6-4, 228-pounder indicated didn’t say he’d heard any rumors specifically connecting him to being traded for Wilson. But he said the move did not catch him by surprise because “something’s happened in the quarterback room in almost every team in this league after every offseason. I was ready for something to happen and then when I found out that this is what happened, I was really excited. Excited for a fresh start.”
He also said he comes to Seattle having been told that “nothing has been promised. It’s just my job to come in and work extremely hard and compete for that starting job.”
But with each day that passes and each quarterback move made elsewhere, Lock really being the successor to Wilson in 2022 becomes a bit closer to reality.
