What we saw in a brief look at Drew Lock’s return to practice

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Under azure skies and with barely a hint of a breeze on an idyllic Colorado fall afternoon, Drew Lock waited his turn behind starter Brandon Allen and rookie backup Brett Rypien.

A few minutes earlier, Lock had warmed up. With enthusiasm, Lock bounced through the pre-practice routine of stretching and calisthenics, then got up to speed with a few tosses to tight end Noah Fant as the quarterbacks threw back and forth while the special-teamers went through their paces on the adjacent field.

Drew Lock fires away pic.twitter.com/PzomAxZYVg

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) November 12, 2019

Then the second-round pick walked up to team assistant equipment manager Mike Harrington — known as “Harry the Hiker” for his longtime work snapping the ball to Broncos quarterbacks in practice and pre-game warmups. Lock received one under-center snap, paused, and took another, immediately firing a pass to his left.

With that repetition, the practice clock on Lock began to tick, and an agonizing 86-day wait ended.

Lock practiced Tuesday for the first time since he injured his thumb in the third quarter of the Broncos’ preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers on August 20. During the period of practice open to local media, Lock worked in individual drills, and continued to take his turn in repetitions behind Allen and Rypien.

“It’s going to be good to have Drew back and see what he can do,” Fant said before practice. “I’m sure he’s excited to get back out to practice, and everybody’s excited for him. It’s going to be good to see what he can do.”

Most of Lock’s tosses spiraled nicely through the air, with sufficient zip, which you would expect from the strong-armed QB.

Of course, the test of Lock will come in dropbacks and more cerebral aspects of relaying playcalls and reading defenses, something that is a part of the portion of practice that is closed to media.

The Broncos can bring him back to the 53-man roster at any point during the next 21 days. If they don’t see enough to justify moving him off injured reserve in that time, his rookie season will end without a regular-season game in uniform.

That possibility seems remote, barring further injury. Even so, Broncos coach Vic Fangio said Monday that he didn’t have a specific timetable for a return to the 53-man roster mapped out for Lock.

“No, it’s not mapped because it’s going to be determined by how he looks and what we think,” Fangio said.

On Oct. 29, Lock said his only frustration was with the wait to recover from the injury, not the Broncos’ plan which involved holding him back from practice work for another two weeks. The Broncos did this because they didn’t want to fritter away part of the 21-day practice window on a bye week that they spent away from team headquarters for a full seven days.

“I think there’s frustration in the fact that it’s been this long and I’ve been doing virtual-reality reps. It’s going to be much anticipated from my [perspective] to get back on the field,” Lock said Oct. 29. “So I’m not frustrated with anything that’s going on right now. As a competitor, as a guy, you want to be on the field, but … I trust what’s going on, and I’m ready whenever they’re ready.”

Tuesday, the Broncos were finally ready for Lock to practice.

More Drew Lock pre-practice exercise pic.twitter.com/WAg97fzRW9

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) November 12, 2019

Now it’s up to Lock to show Fangio and the Broncos’ brass that he is ready for more than just mid-week work.

Fangio said Monday that he is looking for two things to show Lock’s readiness: “Good quarterback play and that he belongs.”

“He can throw the ball pretty [well]. He’s got a really good arm. The rest of it is kind of up to him,” Fant said. “Coach [Rich] Scangarello and T.C. [McCartney], the quarterbacks coach, will have him right in the [middle] of just coaching him up and making sure he’s doing what he’s supposed to.”