Denver Broncos quarterback Drew Lock created some waves when his new shotgun stance was captured on film just a few weeks ago during a voluntary workout session. It came as no surprise to see more of the same during mandatory minicamp as Lock battles Teddy Bridgewater for the starting job.
Lock's new stance evoked the Peyton Manning square stance but according to the third-year signal-caller, his new set-up has nothing to do with the 10-hour film sessions he had with the Hall-of-Famer earlier this offseason. No, it's been Lock's position coach Mike Shula orchestrating the technical tweaks.
“I was originally right-foot-forward leaving college, and then I was left-foot-forward for a couple of years here,” Lock revealed on Tuesday. “And then we changed it to a little more square stance. I was not ignorant to the fact, but Coach Shula (QBs Coach) tried to get me to change that earlier. Just as far as being comfortable and getting the plays out last year and whatnot, I kept that left foot forward.”
Rebuilding his fundamentals was inevitable given Lock's inconsistent body of work in Year 2. Old habits die hard for quarterbacks, but for now, Lock appears happy to roll with making new adjustments at the behest of his coach.
While Shula was the catalyst behind Lock's new stance, Manning still had some input away from the Broncos' facilities.
“That was more of film review on how I played the year before,” Lock said of the sessions with Manning. “Maybe why I should have gotten my eyes here faster or, ‘Hey, did you run this play—where do you see me going wrong?’ Just stuff like that. It was some fine-tune film stuff from a guy that has played the game a really long time. It was cool to get another set of eyes on it.”
Manning taking some time to offer his expert knowledge is a confidence boost in itself for Lock. Perhaps most encouragingly, though, Lock has humbly sought out change in his quest to grow and learn.
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