ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Broncos have their starting quarterback. For the first preseason game, that is.
“We’ll start with Drew [Lock],” Vic Fangio announced after Tuesday’s practice. “Drew will start it off, and Teddy [Bridgewater] will come in, then we’ll flip it the next week.”
Denver’s starting quarterback last year will get the first start of the preseason this year when the Broncos play the Vikings in Minnesota on Saturday. But don’t read too much into it.
Shortly after announcing Lock as the starter for the first preseason game, Fangio said the decision to go with No. 3 was for the same reason he gave Drew the first snap of training camp. The reasoning at the beginning of camp was because Lock had been with the Broncos longer.
“No big deal,” the head coach added about Lock getting the first start.
Bridgewater will then get the start in Week 2 of the preseason, when Denver takes on the Seahawks in Seattle.
While he won’t start the game with the first-team offense, Bridgewater could still see playing time with the starting offensive line, or at least with “guys that are in the hunt” to start.
“We’ve got four tackles that are competing, so they’ll be in there with two of those four,” Fangio explained. “Same thing with the guards, so it may not be what you view as the exact No. 1’s, but we’re confident with the guys we have.”
When asked if Lock and Bridgewater will each play a quarter in the game, with the second half going to Brett Rypien, Fangio responded, “It will be more—until we make a decision—more for those two guys, and less for ‘Ryp’ than you just described.”
The head coach added the quarterback reps will be counted by the number of snaps they take, not by the number of drives or quarters they have. He did not announce a specific number, however.
In terms of how the third and final preseason game will be handled, well, Fangio did not yet know. With that in mind, on top of Bridgewater already being named the starter for the second preseason game, it’s plausible to assume the Broncos won’t decide on their starting quarterback until at least after they play the Seahawks on Aug. 21.
After the team’s 11th practice of camp, and two weeks into training camp, Fangio once again called the quarterback competition “even-Steven.”
“Not much separation,” Fangio added.
The Broncos first unofficial depth chart backed that up as Lock and Bridgewater were listed as co-starters.
“I have confidence in both of those guys,” Fangio said. “I really do.”
The Broncos’ quarterback competition heads to Minnesota, where the team will have joint practices with the Vikings on Wednesday and Thursday leading up to their game on Saturday.
