Why an incompletion helped make Von Miller believe Drew Lock is “a star in the making”

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Drew Lock has had exactly two practices under his belt in his return campaign and he’s already turning heads in the best possible way.

But Drew’s done it in about the most opposite manner imaginable.

“The other day he ran out and did like a little bootleg and he kind of threw it,” Von Miller said, setting up what seemed to be the start of a magnificent life-changing play. “It was an incomplete pass, but I’ve seen a lot of good ones play and that was probably the best incomplete pass that I’ve seen thrown.”

While the comment could come off as sarcastic, there was no exaggeration in the nine-year vet’s voice. He was dead serious.

“I just want to be here when he gets famous. He’s going to kill it. He’s going to kill it,” Miller said, tripling down on his confidence in the second-round rookie.

On Tuesday, in Lock’s first practice, he only ran the scout team, taking no team reps. However, that increased to eight to 10 team snaps during Wednesday’s practice, which Vic Fangio deemed as “significant” because the offense is only running 38 to 39 snaps in total.

It’s significant because Rich Scangarello stated starting quarterbacks get 90 percent of the snaps during the week. Lock, who is technically not even on the 53-man roster, got roughly 25 percent of the team’s snaps Wednesday.

Yet despite the limited reps, Miller’s seen enough to believe Lock is “a star in the making.”

“You saw it with Tony Romo and Aaron Rodgers and all these guys and they just blow up and I see the same stuff for Drew,” Miller said, putting Lock up with some of the greats. “All he has to do is just keep doing what he’s doing and good karma and just the type of guy he is it’s all going to come back to him.”

While certainly not to the same degree, Fangio echoed Von’s optimism and positivity surrounding Lock’s first two practices, saying Lock has looked “good” and “he’s looked a little bit better.” Although Lock was sidelined for three months after sustaining a thumb injury in the preseason, Fangio believes Lock actually benefited from the time away from the field.

“I think he learned a lot,” Fangio said about Lock’s time on injured reserve. “Whereas when he was going through it in the spring and in training camp before he got hurt, it was piling up on him, I think. Besides learning the new offense and being under center, which he had never done in college, etc, all of those things were piling up on him and getting in the way of progressing the way you’d like to see him progress. I think through his time off he’s been able to solve some of those issues, emotionally and mentally.”

Week 11 of the 2019 NFL season has been a memorable one for Lock. On Sunday, he turned 23. On Monday, it was publicly announced he would be designated to return to practice. On Tuesday, he had his first practice since August. And on Thursday, well, a future Hall of Famer deemed he was a famous star in the making.

“He’s got everything you need,” Miller said, speaking of the 6-foot-4 quarterback’s abilities. Miller even added the 23-year old has the hair coif, as the fashionable Von referred to as “a little flip-up.”

Lock will likely be wearing a headset on Sunday when the Broncos take on the Vikings in Minnesota. But according to the Super Bowl 50 MVP, it’s only a matter of time until he’ll be trading in the headset for a helmet and headed to stardom.