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Vic Fangio on QB Drew Lock: 'He's a hard-throwing pitcher that doesn't know how to pitch'

The Denver Broncos took Missouri quarterback Drew Lock with the No. 42 overall pick in the NFL draft in April, and are expected to use him as Joe Flacco’s backup this fall.

While he’s likely being viewed as the Broncos’ quarterback of the future — Flacco is 34-years-old, ready to enter his 12th season in the league — Broncos coach Vic Fangio said Lock has a long way to go before he’s ready to lead an NFL team.

Lock has the talent, Fangio said. He just doesn’t quite know how to use it yet.

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“He's not a quarterback yet,” Fangio said, via the NFL Network. “He's a hard-throwing pitcher that doesn't know how to pitch yet. The faster he gets that, the better off he'll be and we'll be.”

Fangio partly blamed the Missouri offense that Lock ran for four years, which isn’t like the traditional NFL offense. It produced a sort of wild arm, which Fangio said they are going to work to temper this fall.

“I think a quarterback that can change his arm angles is a position when it's needed,” Fangio said, via the NFL Network. “You don't want to do it when you don't have to do it. Obviously if someone's in my face and I have to do it, that's good to have that talent. But if I'm strong in the pocket and there's nothing, I want to throw over the top, nice and strong. I don't want to rely on side-arms.

“It's good that he can do that, but he needs to use that when he needs to and not when he doesn't need to. His college offense really had no carryover to pro offenses. He was under duress a lot in college, so a lot of his plays he was running around.”

Lock, though, is all in.

He finally signed his rookie contract hours before training camp started on Thursday, and was more than ready to get out on the field and start working.

Missing even a single practice is “not who I am,” he said.

“I was anxious to get out on the field,” Lock said Thursday, via the Broncos. “I knew from my side of the party, we were trying to get things worked out. The Broncos and my agency were working together, but I told my agency beforehand that if it got to the point where I was missing practice, then there was no chance we were going to go on with it.

“I was going to sign a deal and I was going to get here, because the most important thing to me was getting out here.”

Broncos coach Vic Fangio said that rookie QB Drew Lock still has a long way to go before he's ready to lead an NFL team.
Broncos coach Vic Fangio said that rookie QB Drew Lock still has a long way to go before he's ready to lead an NFL team. (Getty Images)

Fangio doesn’t ‘see the benefit of having music’ at practice

Vic Fangio has opened 19 training camp practices to the public this summer, which is among the most in the NFL. Allowing fans to see their team up close and personal, the first-year coach said, is extremely important — something that has helped grow the NFL’s popularity immensely.

Apparently, though, those practices will be silent.

Fangio has cut music from their practices during summer camp, only allowing it to be played during their pre-practice stretch.

“Anybody’s who has been a position coach, or assistant coach, they don’t like the music,” Fangio said, via 9News. “It makes it hard to talk to your guys. I don’t see the benefit of having music out there. I was an assistant coach and I don’t want to drum out the noise to talk to my players.”

While that policy isn’t any fun at all, Fangio does have a bit of a point. He is, though, the first coach in Denver in quite some time to kill the music at training camp. Mike Shanahan, Josh McDaniels, John Fox, Gary Kubiak and Vance Joseph all allowed it.

Fangio did make one more point — perhaps the most valid.

“There’s no music in games,” he said, via 9News.

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