Broncos get less-than-ideal diagnosis on Drew Lock's thumb

After Drew Lock exited the Denver Broncos' Monday night preseason bout vs. San Francisco with an injured throwing hand, he quickly received an X-ray.

The good news? No broken bones or ligaments. The results were negative.

After the game, head coach Vic Fangio even called Lock's injury 'mild'. Encouraging.

After further examination, though, it turns out Lock is going to miss some time. NFL insider Ian Rapoport broke the news Tuesday afternoon.

Following his MRI, Broncos rookie QB Drew Lock was diagnosed with a bad sprain, source said. But the good news is, no surgery is required. He’s obviously going to miss some time.

Translation: don't expect to see Lock again this preseason. And that sucks big time.

There's no telling how long a 'bad sprain' to a thumb on a throwing hand could take to heal. Although we await confirmation from Coach Fangio, Lock is almost certain to miss Saturday night's preseason game vs. the L.A. Rams.

I doubt he'll be back to play the preseason finale vs. Arizona, either, although there's a chance. There's no sugar-coating this. Suffering an injury to his throwing hand at this point in the preseason is a blow.

Lock was putting a stranglehold on the Broncos' No. 2 QB spot and had seemingly vanquished Kevin Hogan. However, Lock being sidelined for probably the rest of August gives Hogan a path to the 53-man roster, at least out of camp.

It also means the Broncos will have to carry three QBs on the active roster to open the season, in all likelihood. It's bad news all around.

If it had been simply a sprained thumb, I wouldn't be as pessimistic. But a 'bad sprain' implies more.

We'll hear from Fangio on the topic soon, and he should be able to give us more context and better insight into how the team views Lock's timetable to return. But get ready for more Kevin Hogan, sprinkled with a little Brett Rypien.

However, with regard to Rypien, the Broncos appear to be sand-bagging it. Instead of playing him, the Broncos are keeping him off the field and out of the view of NFL teams, likely in an effort to sneak him onto the practice squad when he inevitably gets waived at the end of the month. Stay tuned.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.