ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The trip back home to Missouri has been extended far longer than he expected at season’s end, but Denver Broncos quarterback Drew Lock said Tuesday being hunkered down at his parent’s house has actually helped him keep himself ready for his first full season as a starter whenever the team returns to the facility.
Lock has been named the team’s starting quarterback and many of the Broncos’ moves in both free agency and the draft, including selecting wide receivers with the team’s first two picks for the first time in franchise history, have been to surround Lock in an offense with more speed and potential explosiveness. And his original plan had been to dive in with throwing sessions with the team’s receivers and running backs in the Denver area well before the team began its offseason program.
But Covid-19 brought stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions and plenty of social distancing that scrapped the Denver plan. But Lock, as he continues in the team’s virtual offseason program, has been able to get in his usual throwing and training sessions in 1-on-1 situations, after a frank, no-nonsense discussion with his trainer and long-time friend, Austin Pace.
“That was the nice thing about being in Lee’s Summit (Mo.), I’ve been with these people forever now, I’ve been with them since my freshman year of high school, to where when this all shut down I gave them a call and I said ‘if we can keep in the private gym, throw in my backyard, go on the field as long as that lasts here in Missouri, throw in a private, local spot … I’m still doing my throwing regimen, my lifting regimen,” Lock said.
” … I told him there would be no hard feelings if you feel the need to go see someone, just tell me, and then we won’t work for two weeks,” Lock added. “I think it was business for him and business on my end, and we kept that promise, that if you got around other people, just tell me and we’ll wait two weeks.”
Lock started the last five games of the 2019 season and the Broncos went in 4-1 in those games, with the only loss being in December in Arrowhead to the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. Lock finished the year with 1,020 passing yards in those five games, 64.1 completion percentage to go with seven touchdown and three interceptions.
The Broncos have made Lock’s development a priority in the offseason with a rather extensive makeover on offense as he learns Pat Shurmur’s playbook. The team opened its virtual offseason program a week ago and coach Vic Fangio had promised to “push the limit” on how much the coaches would expect the players to learn, including Lock.
“They’re definitely a little different,” Lock said. “You definitely have to get more vocal, so to say, not so much getting yp on the board or being face to face with your receivers or running backs, you’ve got to be a little more vocal in those meetings. It’s not awkward, but it’s definitely different to chime in the meetings and have all the eyes looking at you on the screen.”
Lock said he believes it has been “10 times” as quick for him to learn the team’s new offense this time around as it was last season when he arrived as a second-round pick. Lock spent the first half of the season on injured reserve after suffering a right thumb injury in the preseason.