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Drew Lock, Broncos will need to be patient

The Broncos got their first look at second-round quarterback Drew Lock in his new colors during the team's rookie minicamp that began Friday. RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Drew Lock has worked with all kinds of coaches, plenty of throwing gurus and a host of other specialists.

Now perhaps he'll need a patience coach. Because in between all of the throws, touchdowns and big moments, he has never really had to wait to play.

"It will definitely be a different transition," Lock said Friday after his first on-field practice with the Denver Broncos. "... If I'm going through this transition, I'm glad to be behind Joe [Flacco] and hear what he has to say, learn from him, I'm excited to meet him, excited to get in the room with him and learn from a guy who's won a Super Bowl."

Lock knows, and has been told by the Broncos, that he will be the team's backup quarterback, at best, if things go according to plan. Lock -- taken in the second round with the No. 42 overall selection last month -- was among the 47 players on the field and in the meeting rooms Friday. It was a mix of draft picks, undrafted rookies, tryout players and players who had been on a practice squad last season, who will go through the team's rookie minicamp this weekend.

They will mix with the Broncos' veteran players on Monday, the first day of the next set of the team's full organized team activities. That will be Lock's first official stint in a meeting room with Flacco, whom the Broncos acquired in a March trade to be their starting quarterback.

Broncos coach Vic Fangio made it clear that Friday was essentially the first day of football school for Lock and everybody else in a Broncos uniform. Asked about Lock's performance, Fangio pumped the brakes on social media blasts lauding Lock's arm strength.

"Nothing great one way or the other," Fangio said. "He's learning out here, I try not to make any value judgments here early."

Lock said Friday he'll have the patience to back up Flacco. And the Broncos, including Fangio and general manager John Elway, said they'll also exercise patience as Lock transitions from a largely spread look at Missouri to the Broncos' updated version of the West Coast offense.

Former Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer said simply calling the play is one of the biggest transitions for a young quarterback. Plummer said one of the longer playcalls from his time in Mike Shanahan's version of the West Coast offense would have been something like "shift to double wing right, Z fly, 76, U shallow cross." Lock said he's already getting a dose of that with calls that are "10-, 12-word plays."

"Language is a little different," Lock said. "You have to spit the play out and it's tougher to spit the play out than it is to actually go out and knowing what the play is. [But] nothing a little saying the plays in the mirror won't fix. I'll have to dive into that a little bit."

Lock said he already has a comfort level with quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney and offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello, the latter of whom he spent time with on a pre-draft visit to the Broncos' complex last month.

Friday was the first glimpse into Lock's enormous potential and he knows he has room to improve.

"[I'll] evaluate myself every day, figure out what I need to do better, and kind of keep a book of the things I thought I did well that day and try to take it over to the next day with the things I need to fix," he said.