Why Drew Lock, who hasn't been a backup since high school, is the perfect QB to sit behind Joe Flacco

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The last time Drew Lock was a backup quarterback, Peyton Manning was holding up a Broncos jersey for the first time in the Denver Broncos team auditorium.

On Saturday, when Lock holds up his Orange & Blue jersey for the first time, he’ll be a backup once again, something he hasn’t experienced since he was a sophomore in High School.

The four-year starter and three-year captain at the University of Missouri likely remembers as much about being a backup QB as he does about fission and fusion. So will it be a tough transition to the back seat?

“I think it would be if I didn’t realize there are multiple situations that you can get brought into,” the measured and mature 22-year-old said. “I’ve been asked that a couple times. ‘How are you going adapt to being the starter off the bat or being able to learn from a guy.’ My answer is the same every time. I got thrown in the fire at Missouri, so if I need to go in and play early, I’ve been through that and learned a lot from that experience. But at the same time, I was also a starter for four years thereafter that, and I learned what a good backup was. I learned what it took to push me and what it took to help me in the film room, to where if I needed to be that guy for Joe, then by all means. Like I said earlier, he’s a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. It’s kind of a prime spot to be in.”

Get used to Lock knocking these answers out of the park, he never misses. When the BSN team met Lock in Mobile, Alabama at the Senior Bowl, we were blown away. If he ever becomes as sharp with a football as he is in a press conference, the Broncos will be quite alright.

But it’s not just his upbeat, team-first attitude that sets him up so nicely. Lock has a unique relationship with his own backup. In fact, Lock brought Jack Lowary with him to the NFL Draft as his plus-one.

But it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows for Drew and Jack. Lowary, who began his career at Long Beach City College, transferred to Missouri after Lock’s freshman year. Keep in mind, as a freshman, Lock completed just 49 percent of his passes while Missouri won just one game in the SEC.

“I was bulking my chest out, walking around with the high hat and didn’t give him the time of day when he first got here,” Lock said on Friday night with a laugh and a dramatic pause.

“It took us about a week to be almost best friends. We lived with each other for three years and went to every meeting together. We got to leave the house at the same time, always eat at the same place at the same time, took the same degree. He ended up being ideal for me.”

Drew Lock knows exactly what it takes to be a great backup because he has spent every single day with a great backup for the last three years.

“He helped me so much on the field and helped me so much in the film room. He’s a super smart guy and actually ended up coaching for the university now. It couldn’t have been a better guy for me to meet when I was there. He means so much to me and my development since my freshman year, and I feel like I needed to kind of repay him for that and bring him here and go through this experience with him. I think he had a pretty good experience.”

Let’s not ignore what it says about Drew Lock, the starter, and Drew Lock, the friend, that he brought his guy to the draft with him.

Lock certainly still needs to be developed, but from an attitude standpoint, the Broncos are getting the perfect guy for this situation.

“When we look at it, we’re hoping Drew is the future, but Joe is the starter, is going to be the starter and he’s going to battle,” John Elway said on Friday night. “We tend to look at it as the Brett Favre-Aaron Rodgers type situation. He’s going to have time to sit and watch Joe and take his time and learn and continue to get better. We feel we’re in a good situation there.”

Hopefully, for Drew Lock’s sake, the relationship is more like Lock and Lowary than Favre and Rodgers, but you can be sure this won’t be a Paxton Lynch situation, where Lock treats his “redshirt year” as an off year.

The Broncos got a guy who is going to come in, put his head down, and do everything he can to help this football team, while also doing whatever it takes to prepare himself for his moment.

You guys are going to love him.