Broncos officially announce Drew Lock, two others placed on IR

The Denver Broncos have announced that they've placed three players on injured reserve — QB Drew Lock, RB Theo Riddick and TE Jake Butt.

The moves free up three roster spots, which the team used to re-sign LB Keishawn Bierria, CB Davontae Harris and the familiar-faced LB Corey Nelson.

Riddick and Butt going on IR we saw coming from a mile away, once Butt suffered that final setback following Denver's preseason Game 4. However, the Lock move to IR is a curious one.

It's a roster move meant clearly to open up a spot that can be used on a player who can actually contribute. That makes sense.

What doesn't quite add up, however, is the fact that when Lock originally suffered his badly sprained thumb on his throwing hand, which came in preseason Game 3 vs. San Francisco, the original timetable was 5-6 weeks.

Fuzzy math

That injury was suffered on August 19. We're now officially two weeks into his recovery and the timetable now has shifted, at least publicly, to an additional 6-8 weeks.

That doesn't quite add up, however, it's possible the Broncos were simply being cagey about his original timetable. Now that the regular season is upon them, it could simply be a case of the Broncos being more forthcoming about the real extent of Lock's injury. I doubt it, though.

The problem with Lock going on IR is that he won't be able to practice. He can attend meetings and whatnot. But the development of young players only comes by actually playing, even if it's only on the practice field.

Broncos can bring Lock off IR at mid-season

Bare minimum, Lock won't be able to practice with his team until eight weeks into the season. But what if his thumb is healed up and feeling better four weeks from now? The Broncos are losing valuable time to develop their future QB by placing him on IR.

And it's not like GM John Elway has batted an eye in years past when it comes to carrying three QBs. He's done it multiple times. The majority of the time.

The Broncos have the prerogative of bringing Lock back off IR eight weeks in, true. The team gets to designate two players to return off IR and they don't have to decide on which players get the designation-to-return right now.

A Freudian slip

But reading between the lines of what Elway said on Saturday in his final roster cuts press conference, it sounds like the Broncos are planning on redshirting Lock for his entire rookie year.

“We’ll have to see how it goes," Elway said. "I think the most important is getting the best 53. With where Drew is—obviously, we’d like to have him on the practice field, but he’s got that thumb [injury] that’s going to be six to eight weeks. So, it’s going to be longer with a quarterback with a thumb [injury]. We needed that spot. So, my discussion with [Drew] today was it’s not a year off for him. He’s going to be able to everything other than being on the football field. And he’ll be able to work on his own and do some different things there, too. I expect him to continue to work hard and get a good feel with everything and keep learning with the offense, understand what he’s doing there and be right in the middle of everything.”

'It's not a year off for him' implies that Elway either told Lock he's done for the year, or that he plans on keeping Lock on ice all year and it was a Freudian slip. Now, this is a little tinfoil hat. I get that. Elway didn't explicitly say one way or another whether Lock will be a short-term IR candidate, only that the team could choose to designate him for return down the road.

But as a journalist who's covered eight of Elway's nine seasons as a front-office czar, you begin to pick up on things to decipher which way the wind is blowing. Here's what I expect to see happen.

Bottom line

If the Broncos hit mid-season with a sub-.500 record, Lock will come off IR and eventually be plugged in to get some experience. Brandon Allen was claimed off waivers from the L.A. Rams, so if anything happens to Joe Flacco between now and Week 8, it'll be Allen with his finger in the dike.

If the season starts out well for the Broncos, and they've posted a winning record at the midway point, Lock will stay on ice. I hope I'm wrong. I want to see Drew Lock out on the practice field, getting more than mental reps from a virtual reality program.

Hopefully, this isn't a decision that comes back to bite Elway. But, if the team's vision for Joe Flacco comes to fruition, Lock's development as a rookie will take a backseat in the overall tropes and storylines that will ultimately predominate the Mile High City.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.