Vic Fangio: 'Preseason The True Tell' in Broncos' QB Competition
The "totally 50-50" battle between Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater began in earnest Monday as the Denver Broncos kicked off full-scale Organized Team Activities (OTAs).
But the 2021 starting quarterback competition, concocted by head coach Vic Fangio, isn't slated to end any time soon — neither during May voluntary practices, June mandatory minicamp, nor even late July training camp.
Not until mid-to-late August will the winner be declared, so claims the concocter.
"It may be separation in some people’s minds, but until we get to at least practicing 11-on-11, you need to withhold much judgment," Fangio told reporters Monday. "Eleven-on-11, and ultimately, the preseason games will be the true tell.”
Going forward, the Broncos are planning to evenly split first-string reps with Lock, the incumbent entering his second year in offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur's system, and Bridgewater, the vested veteran acquired last month to push his younger counterpart.
"He’s been in the meetings since we’ve signed him. Now he gets his first chance to be on the field and execute what he’s learned in the meetings," Fangio said of Bridgewater on Monday. "I’m sure there’s some rust and some uneasiness about exactly what we’re doing, but I’m sure there is a lot of carryover to what he’s done at other places. I thought he had a good first day.”
Indeed, though new to Denver, Bridgewater arrived with intimate knowledge of Shurmur's playbook from their time together in Minnesota. And his NFL resume — stints as a starter in New Orleans and Carolina — further narrows the gap in a QB room that isn't as divided as one would assume.
“Teddy’s been great," Lock said Monday. "Today was obviously the first time meeting him in person being that we’ve all had to be on Zoom again up until this point. I feel like we’re going to be able to talk easily out there. It comes from seeing Drew [Brees] play. He’s seen a lot of great quarterbacks and he’s played a lot of ball. He has a lot of experience. I feel like we can both bounce things off of each other now where I don’t feel necessarily that I’m the young one. I feel like I can talk back—Teddy is older than me. He is probably a couple years older than me but I feel like I have enough knowledge where I can start talking these things out. Talking with him and being able to just bounce ideas off of him, which is nice.”
Everything is always well and dandy in the spring. Come the dog days of summer, however, the heat sweltering and live bullets starting to fly, this copacetic rapport could quickly dissolve, and the information-sharing cease.
Make no mistake, this is exactly how Fangio wants it: the QB attempting to preserve his future versus the QB trying to salvage his career.
Iron sharpens iron.
Game on.
"It’s a new environment for me and I’m coming into it with the mindset of ‘I just want to play football’ and help these guys on this roster be the best versions of themselves that they can be," Bridgewater said Monday. "Of course, you don’t win in this league in gym shorts, so when the time comes, I just hope I’m executing at the right level that’s appealing to the coaches and go from there.”
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