Paul Andrew Lock (born November 10, 1996) is an American professional football quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Missouri Tigers and was selected by the Denver Broncos in the second round of the 2019 NFL draft. Lock has also played for the New York Giants. He was the backup quarterback for the Seahawks in their Super Bowl LX victory.
Born in Columbia, Missouri, Lock attended Lee's Summit High School in Lee's Summit, a suburb southeast of Kansas City. As a junior in 2013, he passed for 3,060 yards and 35 touchdowns; as a senior, he was the Kansas City Star's All-Metro Player of the Year with 2,731 yards passing and 28 touchdowns. Lock was rated by Rivals as a four-star recruit and was ranked as the sixth-best pro-style quarterback in the 2015 class. He committed to the University of Missouri to play college football for the Tigers. A two-star basketball prospect as a shooting guard, Lock retired from basketball after high school. He grew up a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Lock began his collegiate career by going 6-for-10 for 138 yards and a touchdown in the 2015 season-opener against Southeast Missouri State while coming off the bench for two series. He took over as Mizzou's starting quarterback over the final eight games of 2015. During a 24–10 victory over South Carolina, Lock became the school's first true freshman to start at quarterback since Corby Jones in 1995, going 21-for-28 for 136 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Against BYU at Arrowhead Stadium, Lock was 19-of-28 for a career-best 244 yards and a touchdown while also setting career highs in both passer rating and passing yards while posting his second-best completion percentage of the season. Lock finished the season completing 129-of-263 passes for 1,332 yards, four touchdowns, and eight interceptions to go along with a rushing touchdown.
In Missouri's second game of the 2016 season, Lock completed 24-for-37 for a career-high 450 yards while tying a school record with five touchdowns against Eastern Michigan in Mizzou's home opener. He threw for three more touchdowns on 23-of-38 passing in Missouri's narrow 28–27 loss to Georgia. Lock's passing total of 1,106 yards was more than any Mizzou quarterback in his first three games ever. He played only the first half against Delaware State, but put up huge numbers in the 79–0 shutout victory. In the first half alone, Lock completed 26 of 36 passes for 402 yards while matching the school record with five touchdowns. He closed the season by sparking a second-half 17-point comeback with a 67-yard touchdown pass to Johnathon Johnson against Arkansas. Lock finished that game going 16-for-26 with 268 yards and a score. He finished the 2016 season with 3,399 passing yards, 23 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions to go along with a rushing touchdown. Lock also ranked second in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in passing yards (3,399)
In the Tigers' 2017 season opener, Lock threw for 521 yards, seven touchdowns, and an interception in a victory over Missouri State. On October 21 against Idaho, he had 467 passing yards, six touchdowns, and an interception to break a five-game losing streak for Missouri. On November 24 on the road against Arkansas, Lock threw for 448 yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions. In the 2017 season, he led the NCAA (FBS) and set the SEC and Missouri record for passing touchdowns (44) while helping the Tigers reach a bowl game after starting the season 1–5. Lock finished the season with 242-of-419 passing (57.8%) for 3,964 yards with an NCAA-leading 44 touchdowns and 13 interceptions (165.7 rating). He was selected to the First-team All-SEC.
Lock helped lead Missouri to a 3–0 start with 11 passing touchdowns and an interception in the stretch against UT Martin, Wyoming, and Purdue. On October 20 against Memphis, he passed for 350 yards and four touchdowns in the win. Missouri closed out the regular season with a four-game winning streak against Florida, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Arkansas where Lock had nine passing touchdowns to two interceptions while also rushing for three touchdowns. In the 2018 season, he had 3,498 passing yards, 28 touchdowns, and eight interceptions to go along with six rushing touchdowns. Lock led the SEC in pass attempts and completions in the 2018 season. He finished his college football career with a total of 108 (99 passing, nine rushing) touchdowns.
Lock was selected by the Denver Broncos in the second round (42nd overall) in the 2019 NFL draft. He suffered a thumb injury in the preseason and was placed on injured reserve on September 1, 2019. Lock was designated for return from injured reserve on November 12 and resumed practicing with the team.
On November 30, 2019, the Broncos activated Lock off of injured reserve and named him the starter for the Week 13 matchup the next day against the Los Angeles Chargers. He threw for 134 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception, and he moved the Broncos down the field in the last 15 seconds (via a pass interference penalty on the Chargers' Casey Heyward Jr.) to set up a Brandon McManus 53-yard field goal as time expired, leading the Broncos to a 23–20 victory. In the next game against the Houston Texans, where the Texans were favored by nine points, Lock threw three touchdowns in the first half and led another scoring drive to start the second half, giving his team a 38–3 lead. Lock finished the 38–24 road victory with 309 passing yards, three touchdowns, and an interception.
Lock started the remainder of the season. In five games and starts as a rookie, he finished with 1,020 passing yards, seven touchdowns, and three interceptions to go along with 72 rushing yards. Lock went 4–1 as a starter in 2019 and in the process, tied with legendary Broncos quarterback John Elway for the most franchise wins by a rookie quarterback with four, only needing five games to accomplish the feat that Elway did not reach until his 10th game.
During the narrow season-opening 16–14 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Monday Night Football, Lock had 216 passing yards and a touchdown. In the next game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he completed one of five passes for 20 yards before leaving the eventual 26–21 road loss during the first quarter with a shoulder injury. Lock missed the next three games as a result.
During Week 6 against the New England Patriots, Lock returned from his injury and threw for 189 yards and two interceptions, but the Broncos won on the road 18–12 thanks to six Brandon McManus field goals. With the win, Lock became the youngest quarterback ever to defeat the Patriots at Gillette Stadium under head coach Bill Belichick, as well as the second quarterback to do so while throwing multiple interceptions (Kurt Warner also accomplished the feat in 2001). In the next game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Lock had 254 passing yards and two interceptions to go along with eight rushing yards and a touchdown during the 43–16 loss. The following week against the Chargers, Lock completed 26-of-41 passes for 248 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception in the 31–30 comeback victory. The third touchdown pass was a game-winning one-yard pass to wide receiver K. J. Hamler with no time remaining.
During a Week 9 34–27 road loss to the Atlanta Falcons, Lock recorded 313 passing yards, two touchdowns, and an interception to go along with 47 rushing yards and a touchdown. In the next game against the Las Vegas Raiders, he had the worst performance of his career, completing 23-of-47 passes for 257 yards, a touchdown, and four interceptions during the 37–12 road loss. The following week against the Miami Dolphins, Lock threw for 270 yards and an interception in the 20–13 victory. On November 28, Lock was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list after coming in close contact with Jeff Driskel, who tested positive for the virus. Lock and the other three quarterbacks on the Broncos roster were fined by the team for violating COVID-19 protocols. He was activated three days later.