KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lee's Summit native and University of Missouri graduate Drew Lock returns to Kansas City this weekend as the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos.
Lock, who is 2-0 as a starter since being activated from injured reserve, and the Broncos play the Kansas City Chiefs at noon Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium in a unique homecoming for the 2014 Thomas A. Simone Award winner.
“He’s playing very well right now,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “He’s doing a nice job. He’s got a good command of the offense. Their coaches have done a nice job with him. He’s got quite a package, so it’s not just all the easy stuff. That’s not what it is. He’s making some tough throws and really playing good football right now.”
Really good, like record-settingly good. Lock became the first NFL quarterbacks since 1950 to throw for 300 yards and three touchdowns in his first career road start Sunday as Denver stunned the AFC South front-running Houston Texans.
.@Broncos QB @DrewLock23 is the first rookie since 1950 to have at least 300 passing yards and 3 pass TD in his first career road start.#DENvsHOU | #Broncos | #BroncosCountry
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) December 8, 2019
“On the one hand, it’s good to see Andy Lock’s son with Drew doing well, but, on the other hand, we’ve got to play them,” Reid said.
Lock was a basketball and football star at Lee's Summit High School. His senior year he threw for 2,717 yards and 27 touchdowns before signing with Mizzou, where his father and grandfather also played college football.
In fact, the Tigers football program is where Reid met Lock's dad, Andy.
Reid was an offensive line coach at Missouri from 1989 to 1991, crossing path with Andy Lock as his position coach.
It also meant Reid paid a little extra attention to Drew's career.
“I’ve been a Missouri fan for a while ...,” Reid said. “I’ve followed him from high school. I didn’t follow him before that — but his high school career and then obviously his college career.”
Drew finished with 12,193 career passing yards and 99 touchdowns in 50 collegiate games, leading MU to back-to-back bowl games his junior and senior seasons.
He was a second-round pick by the Broncos, No. 42nd overall, last spring.
Drew suffered a thumb injury during the preseason and was placed on injured reserve in September. He returned Dec. 1 and led Denver to a win against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Now, he leads a surging Broncos team into another AFC West showdown.
“They are (playing with confidence), and rightly so,” Reid said of Denver. “They’ve played well the last couple weeks here and are playing good football right now.”
During his only appearance at Arrowhead in college, Drew finished 19 of 28 for 244 yards with a go-ahead 4-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter of a 20-16 win against BYU.
