Broncos' GM John Elway reveals his evaluation on what Drew Lock has shown thus far

How is rookie QB Drew Lock doing? Who better to hear from on the subject than the Hall-of-Fame former QB who drafted him?

Through two preseason games, rookie QB Drew Lock has steadily progressed. 

The Denver Broncos moved up in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft to take Lock at pick 42, right after taking OG Dalton Risner at 41. Fast forward to today, and Lock is now one month into his first training camp, with his first NFL live-bullet action under his belt. 

GM John Elway, who attended the Broncos' second joint-practice session with the San Francisco 49ers ahead of their Monday night preseason bout, shared his observations on what Lock has accomplished thus far, and just how much progress the young signal-caller has made. 

“He continues to get better," Elway said on Saturday. "He’s been overloaded. Anytime you have young guy like that, he’s going to have his good days and he is going to have his bad days. Obviously, we’re excited still about the talent that he has and what he has showed."

Although college-level QB play and the NFL share many parallels, it's very much a craft entirely in a new stratosphere. From playing under center, to mastering the drop-back, to learning a new playbook and the dense language that comes with it, Lock has been downloading a ton of new information. 

That means he's thinking. And so long as a young player is thinking, he's probably not playing to the best of his ability. That's the NFL 'learning curve' we hear so much about. Some players navigate that trial-and-error process sooner than others. 

That being said, if a player can still flash ability and produce amid the protracted learning curve, it's a positive harbinger of his future wherewithal in the league. 

"He has flashed a lot, but it’s a big jump for him, especially with what we are doing offensively and the verbiage that goes along with it," Elway said. "It’s going to take him some time, but he’s done a nice job.” 

Head coach Vic Fangio has high expectations for Lock. Fangio is loath to dispense compliments willy-nilly, and thus has been perceived as being hard on his rookie QB. 

However, Lock appears to appreciate knowing where he stands in the eyes of his head coach. All Fangio wants is for Lock to learn from his trials and errors, and not repeat them. 

At the end of the day, though, nobody is more critical of Lock than himself. 

“I am super hard on myself regardless of the situation I am in," Lock said following Saturday's practice with the Niners. "At one point in time you are playing and you expect to be in the NFL, and when you're here, you have some struggle plays. You feel like you deserved it. You feel like you should walk up and down the field. When that doesn't happen, I take it a little hard on myself and beat myself up a little bit. But we had a talk about it and to learn from the bad things, that's what really good quarterbacks do. That's what I am trying to evolve into and become.” 

Whatever Lock's mindset is, it's clearly working for him. Through two preseason appearances, he's seen 76 total snaps. With those live-bullet reps, he's gone 24-of-39 (61.5%), for 214 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. He also tossed an impressive two-point conversion, and playing behind the backups to the backups O-line, has been sacked five times.

Lock took a massive step forward in preseason Game 2 at Seattle, and it earned him an expanded role operating the second-team offense. Kevin Hogan, who originally ran the twos, has unofficially been demoted to running scout team. 

As for Elway, as pleased as he might be in Lock's progress thus far, when it comes to the future of the Broncos' QB position, the front-office czar is focused on the present. That means Joe Flacco and 2019. 

“Where we stand, we are not really thinking too far in the future," Elway said on Saturday. "With the last two years that we’ve had, we’re really concentrating on what is going on now. I think that we’ve got to have a good year this year. We’ve got to win football games this year and get it turned around. We’ll worry about the future as we go forward, but at this point in time we’re thinking about now.” 

The Broncos are more than flirting with the idea of officially making Drew Lock the No. 2 QB behind Joe Flacco. But in order for them to be fully persuaded, he really needs to come out on Monday night and take another step forward. 

On Saturday, Coach Fangio didn't reveal what the QB order will be on Monday night. But he did say that the starters are going to play "more than they have seen" thus far. 

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.