Broncos rookie quarterbacks Drew Lock and Brett Rypien are going to make mistakes this summer. Denver’s coaching staff knows that.
What’s important to coach Vic Fangio is what happens after those mistakes.
“They need to be resilient,” Fangio said of the team’s young quarterbacks after practice on June 5. “It’s OK to make a mistake or two. It’s not OK to repeat it, and it’s not OK to let it drag into the next play. These guys have been playing sports for a long time — at quarterback. They have to learn that.”
Fangio’s not just talking about training camp, either. Lock will get plenty of playing time in preseason because the Broncos will have five exhibition contests this summer. Lock should show signs of improvement from the Hall of Fame Game to Denver’s fifth week of preseason.
How will Lock respond after his first turnover? Broncos offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello is looking forward to seeing how Lock will react to adversity.
“Nobody is perfect,” Scangarello said on June 5. “You only know what you know. I think [Lock’s] playing the hardest position on the planet in any sport. It takes time and you’re going to make mistakes. You have to bank that rep, you have to learn from it and you have to try and not go back into those types of mistakes in that territory and keep moving forward.”
Lock was selected by Denver in the second round of April’s draft. Rypien signed with the team as a college free agent following the draft.
Lock and Rypien will be competing with Kevin Hogan for the backup quarterback job behind starter Joe Flacco this summer.
