National Football League

Broncos increase QB Drew Lock’s workload, no decision yet

Updated Aug. 23, 2022 4:15 p.m. ET

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Drew Lock wants to show Denver Broncos general manager John Elway he doesn’t have to go looking at the likes of Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, Jake Fromm, Jacob Eason or any of the other quarterback prospects in the 2020 NFL draft.

First, he’ll have to show coach Vic Fangio he’s better than Brandon Allen.

"I want to try to build this into something special for sure," Lock said Wednesday when Fangio announced the Broncos were upping the rookie’s snaps at practice in preparation for his possible debut Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers.

"I want to be able to give the confidence every single week to my teammates and to the people upstairs that if we ride this into the offseason after these however many games it takes until I get started, then we’re going to have an awesome offseason coming into next season. Hopefully, I end up being here for a long time."

Fangio said Lock, a second-round pick from Missouri who has been on IR all season, will take 75% of the snaps, with Allen taking the rest.

He’ll base his choice on how both do at practice, "but mainly how Drew does," Fangio said.

Fangio said he wasn’t sure when he’d make the call, "potentially right up to the game."

The Broncos (3-8) turned to Allen when Joe Flacco (neck) went on IR at midseason. He won his first start against Cleveland but has lost at Minnesota and Buffalo, where he threw for just 84 yards in a 20-3 loss Sunday.

That poor performance ignited speculation that Lock would finally get his chance despite having practiced only seven times.

Lock sprained his right thumb in the preseason and the Broncos brought him back to practice Nov. 12, starting a three-week evaluation window, after which they’ll have to activate him or banish him from practice until the spring.

"It gets to the point where you can’t take not doing anything anymore," Lock said.

He said he initially was crestfallen when he had to go on IR but came to see it as a blessing.

"I like to think that everything happens for a reason," Lock said. "At the beginning of that I was very lost, didn't know why this was happening. I was super excited to get into the NFL. Then to have that injury happen, it was pretty upsetting."

But he was able to sit back and things began to slow down.

"I got to be on my own, learning the way I knew I had time to learn. I wasn't worried about getting on the field playing. I could kind of focus on what it is I felt like I need to be better at," Lock said. "And it's time to find out what it's going to do for me."