In the late-January cold, P.J. Locke thought perhaps he\u2019d made a terrible mistake.<\/p>\n
The kind that can end a career or alter quality of life for years to come.<\/p>\n
He was a couple of weeks past having lumbar fusion surgery on the L-4 and L-5 vertebrae in his spine, and struggling to do simple tasks.<\/p>\n
The Broncos safety couldn\u2019t stand up or sit down without help, couldn\u2019t get in and out of the car, and even had to have his son grab the remote for him if he dropped it.<\/p>\n
Doubt lingered.<\/p>\n
What if the operation was for nothing?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Locke got concerned enough that he started to dabble in the real estate and construction business his dad built, the world he planned to jump into, but only once his playing days were finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cMan, I\u2019m not going to lie. I was nervous for a long time before the procedure and after it as well,\u201d Locke told The Denver Post recently. \u201cFor the first three weeks, I thought I made the wrong decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s clear now where this story goes. The clouds parted. Locke started to feel better. And slowly, he worked from completing the simplest tasks to eventually finding himself in a better place physically and mentally than he\u2019s been in a long time.<\/p>\n
Certainly better than he was all of last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cMentally, I was going through it last year,\u201d Locke said. \u201cI\u2019m a very spiritual person, and I was just trying to ask God, like, \u2018What\u2019s going on?\u2019 I was trying to find that breakthrough, make the splash plays I\u2019m used to making. I had a support system that kept me going. My wife kept me going and kept me motivated. \u2026 Being an undrafted guy, I\u2019ve been through those dark days, but I just felt like that breakthrough never came.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trouble started as far back as the spring of 2024.<\/p>\n
Locke long had sporadic back issues, but found them manageable. In March 2024, he signed a two-year, $7 million deal \u2014 a blip in the NFL world but a life-changing moment for a player who had to scratch and claw for years to get a toehold.<\/p>\n
Then OTAs began, and he started getting shooting pains down his right leg. His right quad felt, and eventually looked, noticeably weaker.<\/p>\n
He decided he\u2019d tell only the training staff. He didn\u2019t tell coaches or his teammates how the pain kept progressing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never complained one bit about it. I had no idea until after the season he was playing with a back like that,\u201d defensive coordinator Vance Joseph told The Post. \u201cThat was a major, major deal, and he never complained. Obviously, he was sore some days, and I knew he was sore, but he never complained.\u201d<\/p>\n
Locke, though, eventually couldn\u2019t stand and have a conversation for more than a few minutes. He sat at his locker for interviews during the season. He had to occasionally take a knee during walkthroughs, when there\u2019s more standing around.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just got bad,\u201d Locke said. \u201cThe nerve pain got terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also broke his thumb in the middle of the year and played with a club for a few weeks. He was stepping into a full-time starting role for the first time in his career and leading a mostly young group.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd on top of that, not feeling like P.J. on the field at all, it took a hard toll on me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Locke had an MRI the day after Denver returned from its 31-7 Wild Card loss at Buffalo.<\/p>\n
It showed the disc between his L-4 and L-5 had fully degenerated, Dr. Chad Prusmack, the Broncos\u2019 primary neurological consultant, outlined in a video Locke posted on YouTube earlier this offseason<\/a>. The vertebrae were bone on bone. One was shifted forward, and Locke said it was also fractured. When he ran, it pinched the nerve.<\/p>\n Surgery became the primary option.<\/p>\n Eventually, it became the breakthrough Locke had been looking for all along.<\/p>\n \u201cI was told I could skip the surgery and get back and play, but you risk taking a bad hit and that vertebrae shifts forward and it could sever that nerve and then you\u2019ve got a dead leg,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was the determining factor for surgery. \u2026 But if I\u2019d have gone out there and had a very strong (2024) season \u2014 a Pro Bowl, All-Pro-type season, and they\u2019d have said the same thing, I would have been like, \u2018I\u2019m going back and playing.\u2019 .<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 So I think in a way, spiritually, I think God was working in my favor.\u201d<\/p>\n