{"id":942356,"date":"2026-07-11T04:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T04:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/942356\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T04:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T04:18:15","slug":"drew-lock-makes-his-intentions-to-play-on-sunday-very-clear-but-his-status-is-still-up-in-the-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/942356\/","title":{"rendered":"Drew Lock makes his intentions to play on Sunday very clear, but his status is still up in the air"},"content":{"rendered":"

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. \u2014 If it\u2019s up to Drew Lock, he\u2019ll be playing on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.<\/p>\n

But, it won\u2019t all be up to the second-year quarterback if he takes the field on Sunday, a week after suffering a strained oblique and bruising around his ribs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to be [available on Sunday],\u201d the Broncos\u2019 starting quarterback stated on Thursday. \u201cI\u2019m going to take it day-by-day with these doctors and the trainers and even the coaches. I\u2019m going to let them make a decision on whether or not they want to play me or not. Obviously, I\u2019ll give my opinion and it\u2019s going to be I want to play. In the end, it\u2019s not 100 percent up to me what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lock took a positive step on Thursday as he returned to practice after missing Wednesday\u2019s practice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to go out and throw the ball. That\u2019s all I can really ask for today. I was excited and ready to be back out there and throw it. I was feeling good,\u201d Lock said after Thursday\u2019s practice. \u201cI\u2019m feeling better every day. It\u2019s been a good process so far with the doctors and all of the trainers here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cweirdest part\u201d about Thursday\u2019s practice for Lock was balancing showing the coaches that he\u2019s healthy enough to play, while not pushing too hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat reps you get, they are extremely important because you want to show them, \u2018Yeah I\u2019m ready to go,\u2019 instead of them just taking your word for it,\u201d Lock explained. \u201cIt is an interesting process because your ribs do have a lot to do with how you throw and the oblique muscles and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since he only practiced on a limited basis, the former second-round pick split the first-team reps under center with backup quarterback Brett Rypien.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s getting better. He did some more today,\u201d Pat Shurmur said after practice. \u201cBut we\u2019ll just have to see what the rest of the week brings. He\u2019s obviously trending toward playing better than yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the injury does hold Lock out against the Dolphins, Rypien will get his second career start in the NFL. But since sustaining the injury, Lock has made notable progress. On Monday morning, Lock was \u201cdefinitely sore.\u201d On Thursday, however, he was fine enough to practice.<\/p>\n

Lock\u2019s week of rehab includes a \u201clot of heat, lot of ice [and] a lot of stim \u2014 ultrasound stuff,\u201d to help the recovery process as much as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just about being smart throughout the week,\u201d Lock said about the healing process. \u201cAs a young player, I know I need a lot of reps, but at the same time, Coach [Mike] Shula and Coach Shurmur have done a good job of when I\u2019m not taking those reps of being in there and trying to get the mental reps as best as I can and if they feel comfortable enough with that, then it\u2019s still up to their decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lock suffered the injury at the beginning of the second quarter of Sunday\u2019s 37-12 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, in which he threw four interceptions. The 6-foot-4 quarterback \u201cwas feeling\u201d the injury the rest of the game but played through the pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nothing I would be able to go home and look my dad in the eyes and say, \u2018Yeah, dad, sorry I sat out the second half today because I had some bruised ribs.\u2019 That\u2019s not how I was raised,\u201d Lock stated. \u201cYou\u2019re going to be tough. You\u2019re going to go out there and play. Until they have to drag you off the field, that\u2019s what you\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broncos did not drag No. 3 off the field against the Raiders, but Vic Fangio made it very clear he won\u2019t let Lock play if he\u2019s not ready<\/a>. If Drew isn\u2019t able to play against the Dolphins, it will be the third time in his short career he\u2019s been unavailable to play due to injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does hurt missing any time, especially from a guy that didn\u2019t miss any in high school and college. The first couple of accidents I\u2019ve had have been here,\u201d Lock said. \u201cIt definitely does motivate you. I think anyone that\u2019s hurt in this league realizes that the longer you\u2019re not playing, the faster you get forgot about type deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not able to do your job, technically you\u2019re not helping your teammates out and that\u2019s the worst part for me,\u201d Lock continued. \u201cI want to be there for them. I want to lead them. I just want to be a part of a special game on Sunday and have a good feeling in the locker room afterward \u2014 have the whole shebang. Can\u2019t do that if you\u2019re on the sideline.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question Lock wants to play against Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins on Sunday. But he\u2019ll have to convince Fangio and the rest of the Broncos staff he\u2019s ready.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ENGLEWOOD, Colo. \u2014 If it\u2019s up to Drew Lock, he\u2019ll be playing on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,2426,7,6],"class_list":["post-942356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-broncos","tag-broncos","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denverbroncos","tag-football","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116899420810923914","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}