Broncos roster review: Safety P.J. Locke

The Denver Broncos picked up safety P.J. Locke in December and added him to their practice squad. The former Texas Longhorn went undrafted in 2019 after being a three-year starter there.

#37 P.J. Locke
Age 23. 5’10”, 202 lbs.
College: Texas

He enters a competitive backfield in Denver, but there is some opportunity there for the third or fourth guy behind starters Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson.

The good

He finished with 77 total tackles with 5.5 tackles for loss in his senior season at Texas and his pro day numbers were good. He put down 22 reps on the bench and a 36.5-inch vertical. His 40-times were in the 4.4 range.

Most importantly for the Broncos is that he is the kind of high-character player they desire in their locker room. He made an immediate impact on head coach Tom Herman from the minute he walked into the building.

“PJ Locke definitely is the first, and only set of parents that I’ve actually called to personally thank them for sending us a marvelous human being,” Herman said in March 2017. “He’s a great leader. I don’t know if the kid can play football or not, but he’s a very vocal leader on the field out there in all of those drills, and then we literally have an academic meeting every single week, once a week, usually on Thursdays, where we go over every single kid in front of the whole staff, and for the last three weeks, I mean, it’s been glowing reviews for him.

“So I picked up the phone and called his mom, called his dad and said, thank you for raising such a good son.”

He has only continued his work as an NFL player. Most recently, he hosted a “409 workout” with kids from the Beaumont area.

The bad

Being a fringe guy on the roster is the bad. While he was a three-year starter at Texas, he is viewer more likely a tweener type who hasn’t found a permanent role in the NFL just yet. He has been working, however, and given how high of a character guy he is and his outstanding work ethic, he could grow into a role in the NFL with time.

The Broncos obviously saw something in him and I wouldn’t count him out at all.

Final word

Depending on how many safeties the Broncos go with on their active roster, Locke could find his way competing for that fourth spot. If he can prove to be an effective special teamer, that will certainly put his name in the hat for that active roster spot. Even so, I think he’s good enough to make it back onto the Broncos practice squad. I’ll be pulling for this young man, for sure.