ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Drew Lock had a full practice workload Wednesday. He threw with zip and vigor. When viewed from a distance, he showed no signs of discomfort.

And when the Broncos issued their post-practice report, there was one key word to describe his level of participation:

“FULL.”

After a week of limited work in returning from a bruised throwing shoulder, Lock worked without restrictions at practice Wednesday, a key step in his potential return to game-time action.

It would mean that the silver lining of the two postponements of the Broncos’ game against the Patriots could come to fruition. Yes, the New England Patriots  should have Cam Newton back; he was cleared to return to work.

But every game that Lock gets helps the Broncos. Helps because they have their offensive leader. Helps because Lock continues to accumulate game snaps from which he can learn and grow. Helps because the Broncos get Lock a game’s worth of repetitions against a defense that is designed to confound, which helps in long-term evaluation.

And most importantly, the shoulder feels “really good,” Lock said after the practice.

Drew Lock throws at Broncos practice. pic.twitter.com/LlvwmSPwZQ

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) October 14, 2020

“We’re still kind of going forward — today was the most volume I’ve had — but we’ve progressively gotten it higher and higher to get to the point of today where I wouldn’t be sore,” he said. “I’m going to do a little treatment after this and see how it feels tomorrow.”

But the litmus test isn’t simply going to be how he feels when his alarm clock blasts Thursday morning. It will be how he feels when he hits the Gillette Stadium turf for the first time Sunday.

“I’m ready for the first hit just to get it out of there and let it happen and let everyone hold their breath for a couple seconds and I get up and everything’s fine,” he said.

Most collisions will result in the quarterback rising, dusting himself off and turning to the sideline to hear the next play call. But Lock knows that for his own health and long-term viability, he must do better at avoiding those hits.

That’s why he spent time in recent weeks studying how veteran quarterbacks avoid hits like the one he absorbed in Pittsburgh.

“There is an art to it, and I’ve got to learn that art,” Lock said. “I watched a lot of football when I was hurt, and I watched a lot of older guys and how they don’t take sacks. They know they’re going to get sacked and they know where their outlet is in order to get rid of the ball. Whether that’s an automatic incompletion when you throw it at the running back’s feet or you sail one out of bounds.

“It’s definitely part of my game that I can get better at and I worked towards doing that while I was hurt. I couldn’t really do much about it besides footwork stuff and watching technique but starting this practice and moving forward I’m still going to work on it.”

And some of that involves simply taking what’s there. This means reining in some of the “gunslinger” tendencies that have dotted his play. But it’s also a step that every quarterback must take to succeed in the NFL.

“I automatically want to get out and run rather than automatically stepping up and working in the pocket and delivering a ball for maybe four or six yards rather than rolling out of the pocket and trying to throw a deep bomb and make something crazy happen,” Lock said. “I feel like I can put that more into my game and work on stepping up and work on taking the shorter throw that’s open. I feel like if I can slowly but surely progress into that then I can be a really good quarterback in this league.”

Getting to that level requires game experience and continuing to build off the success and struggles he has accumulated to this point in seven career starts. And if he keeps stacking up full workloads in practice, all signs point to him being able to add to that experience Sunday in New England.