Drew Lock

Weeks 3, 4 and 5 of 2026 all passed without Drew Lock playing a snap, and that is the fact that decides his case. The two weeks he did play were good, 17.1 points a game with 4 touchdowns on 422 pass yards, but those were starts in Darnold's absence, not a sign the job is moving. He is listed second among Seattle quarterbacks and has been a backup his whole recent career: 3 games played in 2025, 7 in 2024, 4 in 2023. The small samples are his only samples. He has never reached 10 games in a season here, and in 2024, his best recent year, the 78.1 points still only ranked QB38 among 69 qualifying quarterbacks.

The low end of his range bottoms out near zero for exactly the reason his last two seasons show, and injuries pull the full range down to 0. In 2025 he scored 0.03 points a game after 11.16 the year before, and his yards per touch fell from 7.4 to minus 0.8. Our preseason number was 17 points on a 3.4 point a game pace, set before the season, and the 2 weeks he played already nearly matched what we expected from 5 games. That is the tease that keeps him on rosters, and it is not worth it. The 2025 tape agrees: he cleared 15 points in 0 of his 3 played weeks, and his worst that year was minus 0.4 in week 10 of 2025.

Week 6 of 2026 is next, he carries no injury designation, and his bye lands in week 11 of 2026. Still, there is no lineup week here unless Darnold goes down again. We would cut him loose and fill the quarterback spot with someone whose weeks depend on his own starts.