Nathaniel Hackett Elaborates: 'I'm Really Excited to Work with Drew Lock'

The Broncos' new head coach elaborated on his opinion of enigmatic fourth-year quarterback Drew Lock.

On Tuesday, Denver Broncos fans got to hear their new head coach address the Drew Lock topic for the first time since being hired in January. After Nathaniel Hackett took to the podium at the NFL Scouting Combine, he sat down with NBC Sports' Chris Simms where the first-time head coach officially went on the record on the Lock topic. 

Not long after, Hackett held court with local Denver media who'd made the trip to Indianapolis and took several questions. He was asked to elaborate on the fourth-year Lock, who also happens to be the only quarterback the Broncos have under contract for 2022 currently. 

“I’m really excited to work with Drew, I really am,” Hackett said via KOA Radio’s Brandon Krisztal. “You look back at his past, he’s had a lot of different systems. In my past, working with quarterbacks that have been through a lot of systems, it’s difficult because what do they believe in? You go out there and you’ve had one guy say this, he had another guy say this, or do this footwork or do that. In the end, we just want those guys to go out there and play. So I think it’s a clean slate for everybody and I’m excited to see him. He’s a talented kid and a really good kid... No, I’m very excited to work with him.”

Here’s Nathaniel Hackett talking to local media at the Combine in Indy on his enthusiasm about working with @DrewLock23.@KOAColorado #BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/OlMeXh3VQX

— Brandon Krisztal (@BKDenverSports) March 1, 2022

What happens next on the Broncos? Don’t miss out on any news and analysis! Please take a second, sign up for our free newsletter, and get breaking Broncos news delivered to your inbox daily!

Hackett also made certain we knew that Lock had just gotten engaged. "She said yes," Hackett told local journalists with a rueful smile. 

That care and concern for Lock on the public stage is a departure from the crotchety Vic Fangio of the previous three years. Fangio could hardly be bothered to say anything positive about Lock publicly.

Broncos fans will recall how Fangio had to be prodded to even acknowledge Lock's birthday back when the ex-head coach held a game-week presser where he made sure to wish Teddy Bridgewater a happy born-day. Lock and Bridgewater share a birthday (November 10) and it took the pestering of the media scrum to get Fangio to acknowledge that (though he stopped short of officially extending his happy-birthday regards to Lock). 

The significantly more affable Hackett seems to have a much more conscientious disposition than his predecessor and the inferences we can draw from that are manifold. Hackett cares about his players, especially his quarterbacks. 

Time will tell whether the Broncos actually give Lock a legitimate shot to win the starting job in 2022 but it is the final year on the young signal-caller's rookie contract. Lock might be counting the minutes until he can exit the Mile High City and take his talents elsewhere.

If that's how he feels, it wouldn't be surprising considering how he was treated by the previous coaching regime. But something tells me that Lock will hit it off with Hackett and quickly get on the same page. 

Between now and whenever that might occur, though, the Broncos have two huge roster-building windows to add talent to the quarterback room: NFL free agency and the draft. GM George Paton and Hackett reportedly pine for Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, though a recent reading of the tea leaves suggests that the NFL's back-to-back MVP will be staying put if he opts to continue playing. 

Paton and Hackett have been at the Combine this week, getting an up-close look at the 2022 quarterback prospects in the NFL draft. The Broncos have sat down with all the top QBs in the class and it's possible the team's brain trust falls in love with one of these guys. 

If the Broncos use their first-round pick to draft a quarterback, the clock will start quickly on the end of the Lock era in Denver. But if it's a Day 2 pick, that quarterback will have to beat Lock out to win the job, at least, as a rookie. 

There's a very good chance the Broncos will sign a free-agent quarterback, whether that's re-signing a stop-gap guy like Bridgewater or paying an outside guy with a little more upside like Jameis Winston. Lock has control over not one of those possibilities, so for now, the fourth-year pro can only bury his nose in Hackett's new playbook and cleave unto the Broncos' head coach. 

To Hackett's point, his scheme will be the third that Lock will have to assimilate in four years as a pro and the sixth dating back to his freshman year at Missouri. That's what Hackett means by asking rhetorically, "What does he believe in?" 

Hackett elaborated even further in a sit-down with 9NEWS' Mike Klis. 

"I think consistency comes from the standpoint of a system," Hackett told Klis. "I’ve been with a couple quarterbacks who have gone through a lot of systems and you want to implement yours, that process. It’s hard. It’s hard to have numerous different people calling plays for you. It’s hard to learn different systems, different ways to do things.

"Because as a quarterback, when you go out there you need something you can lean on. Something you believe in. When you have somebody telling you to do things different your whole career, you need something you can buy into. Just the mindset of the way I teach, the way that we built the system – because it is all about the quarterback, and adjusting it to him so they go out there and feel comfortable. That’s going to be a great start for Drew."

I buy Hackett's self-professed excitement to work with Lock. He obviously believes that if push comes to shove, he, and his scheme, can glean more from Lock than the Broncos' previous coaching iterations have been able to. For whatever the kid might lack between the ears as a poised game manager, he's not short on raw talent and athletic wherewithal. 

QBs like that are a coach's dream — so long as the coaches who came before didn't spoil the player and get him too twisted up with different schemes, philosophies, and techniques. That's obviously a concern in the mind of the Broncos' new head coach as Hackett has mentioned the multiple schemes Lock has played in each time he's publicly broached the topic. 

---

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.

Follow Mile High Huddle on Twitter and Facebook.

Subscribe to Mile High Huddle on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!