Drew Lock and His Bad Elbow Are Starting for the Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks are officially out of healthy throwing arms, but they still have to play a football game on Sunday. According to Tom Pelissero, Drew Lock is stepping in to start against the Arizona Cardinals in place of an injured Sam Darnold.

The catch here is that Lock is currently battling severe tendinitis in his throwing elbow. Starting a quarterback with a bad elbow to replace a quarterback with a busted quad and rib is the kind of medical triage usually reserved for a Civil War reenactment, not a prime-time NFL roster.

"Tom Pelissero reported Lock looked good in limited practice reps despite the tendinitis."

Darnold is officially sidelined after getting banged up, leaving head coach Mike Macdonald to hand the keys to Lock. The Seahawks are coming off an ugly 34-17 loss to the Chicago Bears earlier this week, and the offensive vibes are currently hanging by a thread.

If you are looking at the board for this Sunday night matchup, factor in that Lock barely practiced this week. He took limited reps to manage the elbow pain, though offensive coordinator Brian Fleury claims Lock looked good enough to get the green light over backup Jalen Milroe.

This is actually a massive spot for Lock, who is staring down unrestricted free agency in March. When you are a backup quarterback trying to secure a bag, you do not get to sit out with tendinitis. You tape up the elbow, take some painkillers, and try to put enough good tape out there to convince a desperate general manager to give you starter money next spring.

The Cardinals just dropped 33 points on the Dallas Cowboys and are walking into Lumen Field with plenty of momentum. Lock has to survive four quarters of Arizona's pass rush with a compromised arm, or the Seahawks might be forced to see what Milroe can do before the trade deadline chaos hits on Tuesday.