“Somehow, someway,” quarterback snaps will be 50-50 when Broncos open training camp next month – The Denver Post

In his 23rd NFL season and his ninth as a play-caller, Broncos offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur is beginning a new experience: A no-doubt quarterback competition.

Shurmur had Marc Bulger and Sam Bradford in St. Louis (2009-10), Colt McCoy and Brandon Weeden in Cleveland (11-12), Bradford in Minnesota (’17), Eli Manning with the New York Giants (2018-19) and Drew Lock last year with the Broncos.

When the Broncos convene for training camp next month, coach Vic Fangio’s mandate will be to give Lock and Teddy Bridgewater an even playing field to determine who starts Sept. 12 at the New York Giants.

During the second minicamp practice at the Broncos’ broiling facility on Wednesday, the work was again divided evenly — 29 snaps apiece in team work. Lock had six in 7-on-7 and 23 in 11-on-11 and Bridgewater had five and 24 snaps, respectively. Brett Rypien had two 7-on-7 plays.

On Tuesday, Lock and Bridgewater had 30 snaps apiece.

“They’re both getting better,” Shurmur said in his first media availability since Dec. 31. “Obviously, they’ve both gotten work with the 1s and shared the workload. I’ve seen improvement in Drew’s decision-making, timing and accuracy and for Teddy, it’s more about getting up to speed on what we’ve done and he’s right on-board with the things we’re doing.”

The benefit of 10 organized team activity workouts and two minicamp practices isn’t to determine who starts against the Giants, but lay the building blocks for what is coming in camp.

“This has been a very important time for all of us — we’ve gotten almost a half season’s worth of reps through the OTAs and minicamp,” Shurmur said. “I think we’ve built a really good foundation not only for the quarterbacks, but for the team going into training camp.”

The key dates for the quarterback competition: The joint practices against Minnesota and preseason games against the Vikings (Aug. 14) and Seahawks (Aug. 21). Does Lock and Bridgewater get one start apiece? Does either get more playing time in those starts to achieve a rhythm and allow Shurmur to call plays in various situations like third down, red zone, hurry-up, etc? What happens if the competition is statistically even?

Fangio was asked if he wants to name a starter before the Broncos’ third and final preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams on Aug. 28. In theory, he could use the Seattle game to make a final determination and then start Rypien against the Rams.

“That will remain to be determined what we do with the third preseason game,” Fangio said.

Two years ago, during a five-game preseason, Fangio sat the starters for the final two games. Last year’s preseason was canceled because of the coronavirus.

“As far as the work preceding (the Rams game), it’s going to be 50-50 somehow someway,” Fangio said. “There may be days when one of them gets more work than the other, and the next day, the other guy gets more work. Some days will be 50-50, some will be 60-40. In the final analysis, they’ll be pretty (darn) even in the work and opportunities.”

Bridgewater was first up in team work on Wednesday. Rookie receiver Seth Williams dropped the first attempt and Bridgewater misfired on his second pass. The most notable of his completions were both to receiver Jerry Jeudy — a corner route in 7-on-7 and on the right side in 11-on-11 red zone work.

Williams also dropped a Lock pass and Lock was intercepted by safety Justin Simmons on a play that would have been a sack, scramble or throwaway.

The quarterbacks have taken little-to-no team snaps with receivers Courtland Sutton (knee), KJ Hamler (hamstring) and Tim Patrick (hamstring injury revealed on June 7). When camp starts, Lock and Bridgewater will have the full depth chart at their disposal.

Shurmur has familiarity with Lock and Bridgewater. He called the plays for Lock last year.

“Drew obviously has made great progress from a year ago,” he said. “Last year, he went into the season raw without having an offseason and he worked his way through it and he did a lot of good things. I think he’s built on the good things he did a year ago.”

Shurmur was the Vikings’ offensive coordinator in 2016-17 when Bridgewater was injured (’16) and a back-up (’17).

“He’s been in a couple different situations since the time we were together, one where he was a back-up (New Orleans) and one where he was the starter (Carolina),” Shurmur said. “He’s been able to pick things up quickly.”

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