We sort of expected this. And though the Denver Broncos have not confirmed, Drew Lock will make his first NFL start today.
Drew Lock is going to make his NFL debut today against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Reports say that Lock, who was activated from the injured reserve Saturday, is going to start. League sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter the news Saturday night.
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Lock injured his thumb in a preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers and spent more than half of the season on IR. He was activated this weekend after practicing for more than two weeks. He’ll take over for fourth-year pro Brandon Allen, the former Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback. Allen went 1-2 for the Broncos.
Lock started nearly all four years he played for the Missouri Tigers. Now he’ll get his shot in the NFL. The 3-8 Broncos waived rookie free-agent QB Brett Rypien on Saturday to make room for Lock.
The debut of Lock is highly anticipated after the Broncos failed to advance the offense much last week against the Buffalo Bills. The second-round pick will be the third quarterback to start for the Broncos this season, with Joe Flacco on injured reserve and Allen set to be the backup.
Lock also will be the eighth rookie quarterback to start for an NFL team this season. He was the fourth QB taken in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Kyler Murray (Arizona Cardinals), Daniel Jones (New York Giants), Dwayne Haskins (Washington Redskins), Ryan Finley (Cincinnati Bengals), Gardner Minshew (Jacksonville Jaguars), David Blough (Detroit Lions) and Devlin Hodges (Pittsburgh Steelers) all started a game already this season.
The Chargers are favored to win by 3.5 points, courtesy of the Action Network. Today’s game will kick off at 3:25 p.m. on CBS.
It will be interesting to see how Lock plays. One thing’s for sure: many players on the team believe in the former Tiger. He likely starts the rest of the season to show what he can do.