Denver Broncos: Vic Fangio thinks Drew Lock’s time away was productive

Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio seems pleased with what he’s seen from rookie QB Drew Lock upon his return to the practice field.

Drew Lock came to the Denver Broncos from a Missouri program that helped highlight his NFL-ready talent, but he still needed more time to learn the nuances of the NFL game.

The Broncos were installing a brand new offense under Rich Scangarello with many concepts and wrinkles Lock had never run in college. No stranger to learning a new offense, Lock earned the Broncos’ backup QB job in relatively short order over Kevin Hogan, but the excitement of that was short-lived as Lock wound up injuring his thumb in preseason play, landing him on IR at the start of the regular season.

The decision to place Lock on IR was not completely necessary, at least not in my opinion. I’m not a doctor, nor am I involved in the day-to-day at Denver Broncos HQ, but Lock’s injury was fully healed prior to his eligibility to return to the active roster, and the Broncos could have re-installed him as the backup QB much sooner than they did.

Still, the coaching staff is getting a look at Lock now, and that’s where we’re at.

On Tuesday, Lock got only scout team reps, but that ramped up on Wednesday with him getting 8-10 of the regular offensive reps in addition to his scout team reps.

The Broncos are getting a closer look at the guy who hasn’t practiced since August, and Fangio says he’s pleased with what he’s seen so far. He even went so far as to say he thinks the time away for Lock ended up being a good thing.

Although Lock is the type of competitor who certainly has been itching to get back on the field, it seems there’s been a method to the Broncos’ madness here all along, and we’re getting to see a bit more of that.

Fangio and the coaching staff could obviously tell that Lock was taking on a lot. Perhaps too much. The ability on their part to recognize that and use a bad situation for something good could end up paying huge dividends.

Lock’s injury provided him the chance to step back and breathe a little bit. He maybe needed to realize he didn’t have to be where the Broncos wanted him to be overnight.

Now, 10 weeks into the regular season and with the pressure substantially diminished for Lock, he’s being brought along at the team’s pace, and that pace seems to include a plan to eventually get him on the field in 2019.

Will we see Lock in uniform against the Vikings as Brandon Allen’s backup? A couple of days ago I would have told you ‘no way’ but after hearing Fangio say that Lock took 8-10 reps in practice that weren’t of the scout team variety, you have to think it’s at least a possibility.