ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It is not that the Broncos do not have a plan for Drew Lock over the next few weeks.
It’s just that the plan is not one with rigid steps, requiring Lock to be at a specific spot at a specific time. It is changeable.
This is not like an itinerary that involves a plane flight, requiring one to be at the gate at a scheduled time in order to travel. You miss the flight and you’re staying home and out a few hundred dollars with nothing to show for it.
It’s more like a six-hour road trip. Maybe you leave a bit early. Perhaps you take a pre-drive nap and leave an hour or two late. (One might argue this was already done, as the Broncos did not start Lock’s 21-day practice clock for four weeks, two of which were of normal practice length.) Or you can take a scenic detour along the way.
No matter what, you’ll get there, but the schedule is variable.
If you are “Deep Throat” in All the President’s Men, you might not be fond of this method. “I don’t care for any inexactitudes,” he said. Indeed, Lock is to be evaluated on look and feel more than precise metrics.
Or, as Broncos coach Vic Fangio affirmed this week, he’ll know it when he sees it.
The detour could be in play.
Monday, as the Broncos returned from their bye, Fangio made two key points:
- There was no guarantee the Broncos would activate Lock from injured reserve.
- Lock’s path to the 53-man roster and a potential start had not been mapped out.
“No, it’s not mapped because it’s going to be determined by how he looks and what we think,” Fangio said.
This gives the Broncos flexibility to move him via the passing lane to the starting lineup. But it also allows them to go off the direct path and delay his his first start until the final two weeks of the regular season. They could even take the scenic route and kick the can down the road to 2020.
All of it is in play.
Still, the goal is obvious for Lock.
“The clear goal is to be activated,” Lock said Wednesday.
It’s just that the path to getting there is shrouded in fog and might require some unexpected detours.
“I’m not 100 percent sure how they’re seeing it, how it’s going to work,” Lock said, “but like I said, I’m ready for whatever they throw at me, whatever they feel is best for me and what’s best for this team.”
So when you’re traveling through fog, you focus on what is immediately in front of you — and for Lock, that was scout-team work Tuesday and a scheduled smattering of snaps in the Broncos’ scheme Wednesday.
Even Lock did not appear 100 percent certain what he needed to demonstrate.
“That I can complete passes, I guess,” he said. “But just that I’m clean. No fumbled snaps. Just being an efficient quarterback, I guess, because it’s different. You’re running some scout-team looks. You’re going to throw it to this guy no matter what the coverage is.
“There’s just a lot of different variables that go into trying to show that I’m ready, I’m ready to go. I don’t even know that there’s an exact answer of what I can do to prove to them, just to come out every day and take it one step at a time.”
Lock’s goal for the rest of the season is clear. His path may not be.
