OC Pat Shurmur 'very impressed' by Drew Lock as young quarterback learns new offense

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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — As quarterback Drew Lock approaches his first full season as a starter, Offensive Coordinator Pat Shurmur has been impressed by the young signal caller's ability to digest a new system.


"I was very impressed," Shurmur said via Zoom conference on Thursday. "He was able to keep up with the installations when he and the rest of the quarterbacks and [Quarterbacks Coach] Mike [Shula] and I would sit down and just generally talk concepts. I think he's got a really good feel for the game. He's developing a good feel for what we want to do. If the rumor is true that he's throwing to our players, I think he's learning something there. We'll just try to put it all together here come July."


Shurmur referenced Lock's reported off-campus throwing sessions with teammates on several occasions. While players are not currently permitted to participate in on-field football activities with their coaches, they can voluntarily gather away from UCHealth Training Center.


Lock has reportedly gathered with several teammates to throw — and Shurmur joked that he heard the sessions had made an impact.


"It's been awesome to work with him," Shurmur said. "Unfortunately, it's been remote. I think he's embraced what we're planning to do on offense. There's a rumor that he's working with the players by himself. That's a rumor that I heard. Also, along with that rumor, I heard it's going well."


Shurmur has implemented a system during virtual meetings that should utilize a series of weapons that includes Lock, Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, Noah Fant, KJ Hamler, Melvin Gordon III and Phillip Lindsay.


"I think it's important to have good players at all positions," Shurmur said. "When you add explosive players to the roster, it not only helps them as players to have an impact, but it also helps the rest of the guys. I really do think you have to spread the ball around. Typically, in games that you win and play good offense, when you look at the stat sheet at the end of the game, there's probably six or seven guys that caught passes, there's probably two or three guys that ran the ball. I really do think if you're going to play good offense, you need threats outside, inside and in the backfield. It's going to be fun. I feel like the remote portion of this year was very productive. We as coaches, we're really, really excited to get the players on the field and work with them when we come back here for training camp."


Shurmur tailored his system to the Broncos after watching each of the team's snaps from last season. As he did so, he aimed to mesh his offense with successful elements of the Broncos' system from 2019.


"There were some things that they did well on offense last year that tactically we will continue to do," Shurmur said. "And then you kind of add that to the stuff that will be new. That was the starting point, and then listen to the coaches speak. … As two worlds come together — last year's world and my experience — there's always things you can add that can help the players be successful tactically. I think also you want to listen to the [offensive] line coaches so that … some of the calls can be the same [if possible] and there's some familiarity so it's not totally new. There's going to be a great deal of new stuff, but … they've got reps in the bank from last year that will be helpful moving forward."


When the Broncos are finally able to hit the practice field together — both coaches and players — that overlap could prove invaluable. As Shurmur explained Thursday, the Broncos won't have reps to waste. Currently, though, Shurmur said he's not concerned about the lack of reps for his young offense.


"I guess obviously I would be less concerned if we were able to practice and I'd have a better feel for the players," Shurmur said. "I think it's about the players and putting them in the best position to be successful. I do feel with the amount of practice time that you have during training camp, we'll get a feel for what they can and cannot do. … What you don't have the benefit of — and we've all done this as coaches — there's not a lot of play tryout. You don't have the ability to run a bunch of things that you would not choose to run in games. That's where the work behind the scenes is going to be very important. I feel good about the concepts that we're going to try and run.


"… You can't stand there at the plate and take a bunch of called strikes. You've got to get to work, and you've got to work on the things that are going to be very important."