Denver Broncos: Drew Lock is coming back to practice
Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Drew Lock is coming back to practice and will likely be one of two players coming off of IR.
The Denver Broncos will reportedly bring rookie quarterback Drew Lock back to practice on Tuesday with the assumption they will bring him off of injured reserve sometime in the next three weeks.
Mike Klis of 9News in Denver reported what many had expected.
When Lock hits the practice field, the Broncos have a three-week window in which to allow him to practice with the team before he has to be either activated onto the 53-man roster or placed on IR for good.
The three-week window is not mandatory. Lock could start this week if the Broncos wanted. He could have started against Cleveland if they wanted.
He’s been eligible to return to practice since week six ended, and eligible for the 53-man roster since after week eight.
The timing of everything regarding Lock since his thumb injury in the preseason has been odd, to say the least, as the Broncos (Vic Fangio and John Elway) keep talking about how Lock needs practice before he can play, but they are delaying his return to practice for reasons unknown.
At least, they were delaying it until now.
The clock is at least ticking now. Nothing against Brandon Allen, but Lock is a second-round draft pick with tremendous upside and Allen was brought in off of waivers when rosters were cut from 90 to 53.
That’s not to say Allen can’t perform well in the time he’s given, but the Broncos do not have to be ‘fair’ about the opportunities they are giving him unless he’s putting up video-game type of numbers. They need to have a goal to get Lock into the lineup, and whatever success Allen has in the system should actually be seen as good news for Lock.
The system under Allen’s operation was much more of what we had all expected compared to the debacle of Joe Flacco running it.
There are many things this offense can do to be tailored to a rookie quarterback. We saw the Broncos employ some pistol with Brandon Allen at quarterback, and the way this offense can use the running game to move the pocket and get the quarterback out on the move.
It certainly feels like this move is overdue. The Broncos obviously wanted things to work out in the temporary with Flacco because they felt like Lock could use a year to learn the system and develop off the field, but the product with Flacco was so bad, Lock’s debut has now been expedited.
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Although the Broncos are keeping plans close to the vest and maintain that Lock still may not even be activated this year, it’s not out of the realm of possibility we could see him in uniform this weekend against the Minnesota Vikings as Brandon Allen’s backup.