The New York Giants will start Drew Lock at quarterback this Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles to close out the Giants’ 2024 regular season schedule.
That leads us to question whether this week is an audition to stay with the Giants or catch the eye of his next team — and he will have a next team if he hits free agency in March.
Lock had a monster game last week for the Giants against the Indianapolis Colts, which opened some eyes as Lock accounted for five total touchdowns in the Giants’ explosive 45-33 victory.
On Wednesday. Lock was looking forward to closing out the season with his prospects on an uptick.
“Good, healthy. Spirits high after last week,” Lock told reporters. “I’m feeling good. I’m excited to go out and get the opportunity to play another one.”
Lock, a 2018 second-round draft pick of the Denver Broncos who spent the pst few years as a backup in Seattle, was signed to a one-year, look-see deal this past offseason as insurance to the oft-injured Daniel Jones, who was coming off ACL surgery.
Jones didn’t get hurt again, but the Giants ran out of patience with him and turned to Lock and Tommy DeVito at quarterback after Jones went 2-8 to start the season.
It wasn’t until last week they finally got in the win column with Lock under center, connecting with the team’s young pieces around him. He looked comfortable with wideouts Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson and running back Tyrone Tracy Jr.
The question now is, can he do it two weeks in a row?
“Execution. It starts with this week of practice,” Lock said when asked how he’ll approach the task ahead. “Really focused practice last week, great work. Trying to duplicate that this week. Energy, intensity, focus. It’s hard to duplicate games, but give ourselves the best position to go out and score points. One way or another, it’s got to start this week in practice.”
Lock has to know that his marketability for the upcoming offseason will spike if he can deliver another noteworthy performance.
“I would say you want to put together great games every single time you play. You need to put together 17 of them just to stay relevant and keep playing football,” he said. “Try to extend your career as long as you can. The only way you can do that is by putting good things on tape. Every chance you get, go out there and make it the best representation of yourself. That’s the plan every week.”
The Giants are currently in the fourth overall spot in the 2025 NFL draft and a win would send them further down the draft order, perhaps well out of the range where the top quarterbacks are.
Maybe that’s a good thing. Who knows? Maybe they go in a different direction at quarterback next season and Lock could be part of that plan again.
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