How Drew Lock's first day went through his eyes and the eyes of his fellow rookies

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. —”You go through this whole process waiting for that moment to finally step out on the field,” Denver Broncos quarterback Drew Lock said on Friday with a big smile on his face.

For Lock and his fellow rookies, that moment came on Friday afternoon at the UC Health Training Center. In total, 47 players were out on the field for the first practice of the year, including 20 tryout players and four “first-year” players to go along with Denver’s six draft picks and 17 undrafted free agents.

Despite his status as the third pick of Denver’s draft, though, all eyes were on Lock, the cannon-armed quarterback out of Missouri.

During a short period that was open at the beginning of practice, the “easy cheese” that we talked about so often at the Senior Bowl was on full display as he worked through drills with offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello and quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney, likely leaving some hands stinging in the process.

“If I had to put it in one word, it would be ‘great,'” the young gunslinger said after practice. “I felt great out there today, it was awesome.”

That same word was used by fellow second-round pick Dalton Risner.

“He did great,” Risner said. “You would have never thought it was Day 1 for him. You know, of course, he has things to work on as everybody else does, but that’s something that Drew brings to the table. He’s not a quarterback that’s going to be hesitant… He did a good job.”

Of those things he needs to work on, number one on the list has nothing to do with what happens between the whistles.

“It’s tougher spitting the play out than it is going out there and actually knowing what the play is,” Lock said of the calls in his new offense, some of which can be upwards of 15-words long. “That’s going to be a little bit of an adjustment for me but it’s nothing that a little bit of saying the plays in the mirror isn’t going to fix tonight.”

The emphasis on tonight should make Broncos fans happy, especially after a certain former first-round quarterback spent much of his first season acting like he had plenty of time to improve.

Lock said he plans to spend three and a half hours of his Friday night simply rehearsing play calls in the mirror.

“Not a pretty sight,” he joked, “but I’ll deal with looking at myself.”

Aside from the tongue-twisters, though, the reviews were solid.

“Drew throws a great ball,” said first-round pick Noah Fant. “We had two quarterbacks out there today, Drew and Brett Rypien. Both of them made some great passes out there, did their job and did great out there today.”

Fresh off of a night with the mirror, Lock and his teammates will tack back to the field on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning before the veterans come to town on Monday.