Drew Lock will get first quarterback rep, but Broncos coach Vic Fangio striving for equal split – The Denver Post

For a mostly simple reason, Drew Lock will take the initial quarterback team snap Wednesday morning when the Broncos open training camp.

“He was here (last year), he’s been here, he’s got more seniority (with the Broncos),” coach Vic Fangio said during his Tuesday media briefing.

Lock’s competition with Teddy Bridgewater semi-starts with the first practice, but won’t really intensify until next week.

“In the final analysis, we have these first four days and it will be like mini-camp and OTAs, when everything was 50-50,” Fangio said. “After four days, it will be 50-50 unless it’s an odd number (of plays) and then we’ll take a look at it during the first off day.”

Fangio said a potential plan is to split the snaps 70/30 on one day and then flip it the next.

Asked if Lock and Bridgewater will start one preseason game apiece (at Minnesota and at Seattle), Fangio said: “We haven’t decided yet, but probably.”

What’s definite is Fangio will lead the decision.

“Vic’s going to make the call,” general manager George Paton said. “Me personally, I don’t think you put a deadline on it. You hope to see some separation as you get into Minnesota (practices on Aug. 10-11) and (then) we play some games. I know it’s tricky — they both need the reps.”

The Broncos open the season Sept. 12 at the New York Giants.

“Ideally, you would like to come to that decision sooner rather than later, but we’re going to let the decision be made for us, hopefully, and whenever that happens, it happens,” Fangio said.

Lock and Bridgewater represent Quarterback Battle 2021 (QB2021) after the Broncos didn’t deliver an Aaron Rodgers trade out of thin air. Hours after Rodgers reported to Green Bay’s camp, Paton declined to specifically discuss Rodgers.

“As I’ve said before, we monitor every situation,” Paton said. “We’re going to have a pulse on every situation. If a player is available that we covet, we’re going to be aggressive to try and get him.”

The Broncos were proactive in April when they traded a seventh-round pick to Carolina for Bridgewater instead of waiting for him to be cut. Paton wanted to add competition for Lock, whose 15 interceptions tied for the NFL lead last year, but wasn’t ready to give up on him.

“Very confident in both quarterbacks,” Paton said. “I thought they both had some peaks and valleys during the offseason program … but I thought they finished strong.”

Source: Read Full Article