When should Drew Lock start games this year?

[Broncofan]

6 hours ago, paul-mac said:

At the absolute least, can we say Lock has shown enough to enter 2020 as the starting QB of the Denver Broncos? I’d assume Flacco gets kept as a backup since there’s a lot of dead money to cut him. 

 

6 hours ago, BroncoBruin said:

Dead money would only matter if it cost more to cut him than keep him. Denver saves 10 million by cutting Flacco. 

And again - DEN has 16.3M in cap rollover for 2020 - the Flacco dead money creation was to create cap flexibility in case Elway extended someone other than Janovich, and wanted to dole out bonus money that would count from this season.  It was purely for cap flexibility.  There won't be any any extensions now that will count to 2019, it's likely all being pushed to 2020 anyways now, so it's a zero sum gain.    

If Elway hadn't done the restructure, we would roll over 2.8M to 2020M with no dead money on Flacco's contract.    Instead, we roll over 16.3M and have a 13.6M cap hit to take with a cut.  It's literally a 0 sum gain, there is no real dead money that was added, since Elway didn't use the $ on any in-season stop-gaps (thank goodness) or extensions (other than Janovich, which didn't ding it enough to make Elway use the extra room).

[lomaxgrUK]

8 minutes ago, Broncofan said:

 

And again - DEN has 16.3M in cap rollover for 2020 - the Flacco dead money creation was to create cap flexibility in case Elway extended someone other than Janovich, and wanted to dole out bonus money that would count from this season.  It was purely for cap flexibility.  There won't be any any extensions now that will count to 2019, it's likely all being pushed to 2020 anyways now, so it's a zero sum gain.    

If Elway hadn't done the restructure, we would roll over 2.8M to 2020M with no dead money on Flacco's contract.    Instead, we roll over 16.3M and have a 13.6M cap hit to take with a cut.  It's literally a 0 sum gain, there is no real dead money that was added, since Elway didn't use the $ on any in-season stop-gaps (thank goodness) or extensions (other than Janovich, which didn't ding it enough to make Elway use the extra room).

It is incredible how many well paid NFL reporters fail to understand this.

Elway bashing is usually accurate to some extent, but it's ridiculous how much heat he got over that Flacco restructure for no reason.

[Broncofan]

16 minutes ago, lomaxgrUK said:

It is incredible how many well paid NFL reporters fail to understand this.

Elway bashing is usually accurate to some extent, but it's ridiculous how much heat he got over that Flacco restructure for no reason.

Yeah it's kinda crazy how poorly informed the reporters are on this one.   I've replied multiple times on the beat reporter Twitter feeds, but I'm a ghost on Twitter activity-wise (I just follow for the info), so my voice just gets lost in the crowd lol.

On the other hand, Elway getting praised for finding Lock is certainly warranted if Lock works out, it will restore his job security in a big way.  But the narrative that Elway & co. crafted this special plan that was perfectly executed is completely off-base, as well.    You don't put a guy on IR-return with a 4-6 week injury in mid-August, then waffle 3 extra weeks to activate him, if you are convinced he's the 2020 guy.   Let alone spin that crazy "false-positive/negative" narrative.   And let's remember that if Brandon Allen doesn't face-plant @BUF, likely it's still an ongoing discussion on when Lock takes over.   Brandon Freaking Allen.    Still, I & every other DEN fan will gladly take this W if Lock is the guy, ultimately this was a lost season anyways, it's 2020+ that counts.

Ultimately, Lock will decide Elway's future in DEN - if it's a hit, then he's back to being very safe as the face of the franchise FO.   If Lock isn't the answer, and we're still nowhere close to finding an answer after next year, I don't see Elway surviving.   But the real difference is there seems to be legit hope we're on the right path on O - Risner, Sutton, Janovich are our best guys, and Fant showing up in 2H year 1 is a very good sign.    It's crazy how long we've been without real hope - even Siemian's 2016 was just a glimmer that maybe there's something there for 2017+ (there wasn't), and it was with an aging supporting cast.   Here, our best guys are our young ones, which is fantastic not just for the cap implications - but their ceiling isn't capped, either.    So the hope isn't just real, it feels like a blast of sunshine in a dark cave in comparison to past years.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Broncofan

[BroncoBruin]

It's interesting because "kicking the can" on veteran contracts has always been viewed as irresponsible management. But with cap rollover + year-to-year inflation you actually save more and more money the further down the road you kick it. I have a feeling Joe will be designated a June 1 cut. 

They make it so easy for teams to responsibly manage the cap now, it's kind of embarrassing when teams can't. 

[Broncofan]

4 hours ago, BroncoBruin said:

It's interesting because "kicking the can" on veteran contracts has always been viewed as irresponsible management. But with cap rollover + year-to-year inflation you actually save more and more money the further down the road you kick it. I have a feeling Joe will be designated a June 1 cut. 

They make it so easy for teams to responsibly manage the cap now, it's kind of embarrassing when teams can't. 

The difference is when teams kick the can on contracts to sign win-now guys - and it doesn't work out.   Then there's no rollover.  KC and DAL were the worst teams at doing it.    That's worthy of every bit of criticism thrown their way.   And to be fair to the critics, Elway in fact did this with Von's extension in 2018, as it allowed him to trade for Veldheer, and sign Clinton McDonald & Tramaine Brock, the very next week.    That was cringe-worthy the moment those signings/trades happened. 

It's just very lazy reporting assuming that Elway was doing the same here - because it happened in September, not the summer.   That meant it was more than likely going for long-term extensions.  At the time, I wasn't a fan - because I didn't see anyone worth extending at high $ (Janovich was never going to cost a lot).   Even now, Simmons is the only guy I'd think about for sure - but the point is, Elway was likely doing it in September for that purpose, no real stop-gap vets you need to spend $$ on in September onwards.

If Elway had spent the $ on more win-now guys like Riddick (or more accurately, like he did with Von Miller's restructure in 2018), then he'd have earned the criticism.   It really is a p***-poor job of reporting on this - there's a huge difference between using the $ to simply manage cap to get extensions for younger guys - than spending the $ for this season, and robbing next year.

P.S.  It's a no-brainer to cut Flacco.   I see absolutely no reason to keep him, and only millions of reasons to let him walk.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Broncofan

[Broncofan]

Just so we can put this to rest - Elway's clearly confirmed what we all suspected - Lock's going to be the 2020 guy.    Thankfully we can save Flacco's 2020 $ (and again, with rollover, there is no actual dead money).

 

[jsthomp2007]

I am plugging Lock in as my fantasy starting QB.