An inconspicuous backpack occupies the bottom shelf of Drew Lock’s cubbyhole inside the Denver Broncos’ practice facility in Dove Valley, Colorado. Although he has owned it for less than a year, it rarely leaves his side.

A few minutes before practice Wednesday, he unzipped its top flap to glance at an item he purposefully views almost every day. Seconds later, his right hand emerged from the pocket holding a small sheet of paper.

His NFL Draft card. Seven months ago, he preserved the history, knowing he never wanted to forget how that night ended. He has the information memorized:

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Denver Broncos.

Lock, Drew.

Quarterback.

The University of Missouri.

His eyes always settle on the final line.

Overall: No. 42.

“If you feel tired; if you feel bad for yourself,” Lock said, “(Bleep) that.

“I gotta prove these people wrong.”

The hardest night of Lock’s football life — April 25, 2019 — is positioned in the most visible spot in a bag he carries everywhere he travels. To understand why, here’s a story from his father.

When Lock, a University of Missouri and Lee’s Summit High School graduate, participated in his first tackle football game in the fourth grade, he played tailback. He had scored four touchdowns, and few were happier than his dad, Andy, a former Mizzou offensive lineman who didn’t want to push his kid into football but sure as hell kept his fingers crossed that Drew just might enjoy it. And, boy, if it didn’t seem like he had something special.

But after the fourth touchdown, Lock came back to the sideline crying.

“What’s wrong?” Andy asked.

“Dad, I don’t like it,” he replied. “I don’t want to play tailback anymore.

“I want to be a quarterback.”

He was insistent. Couldn’t be told no. In the next practice, his very first as a quarterback, Lock knew he was where he wanted to be, and he was already fighting to show he deserved to be there. He’s played the position ever since.

Before he even reached high school, Andy thought, You know what, this might work out.

Lock starred at Lee’s Summit. Followed his dad’s trail to Missouri. He’s 6-5 with a big arm. He gets the chance to play an NFL game in his hometown Sunday, when the Broncos visit the Chiefs. And, well, from the outside looking in, it seems like this has been a pretty smooth ride.

But there’s an edge to Drew Lock, made tangible by that index card, and first discovered on that fourth-grade practice field. It can be traced to Lee’s Summit, when he received criticism for winning the Simone Award as the top high school player in Kansas City. Some coaches didn’t believe the winner should come from a program with a losing record.

It can be traced to Missouri, when after he led the nation in touchdowns, draft experts directed him to go back to school for another year. Told him he had more to prove. The system bore responsibility for those numbers.

And you can bet it traces back to that draft night, back to that hours-long wait in the green room for a phone call that never came.

“Everyone thinks he’s had a perfect life,” said Eric Thomas, Lock’s coach at Lee’s Summit High. “He’s gone through a lot of adversity in football.”

‘I’ll never forget about it’

At 11 p.m. on an April night in Nashville, a bar on the downtown strip had roped off space for a party. Food and drinks had been ordered. An estimated 600,000 people attended the 2019 NFL Draft, setting an attendance record.

A party for Drew Lock sat in the middle of it all.

He sat in a hotel room instead.

It was nearly midnight by the time he’d arrived there after the draft’s opening night, choosing to skip the get-together in his honor. He and college roommate Jack Lowary sat in silence, the TV off, neither of them daring to speak.

“There were definitely some tears shed — I won’t lie and say that didn’t happen,” Lock said. “We stayed up until probably 3 or 4 a.m. I couldn’t go to bed.”

Nearly every mock draft had projected Lock as a first-round pick. A few rated him as the top thrower in the entire class. The New York Giants had brought him in for a workout, but they rattled just about every expert’s board when they selected Duke quarterback Daniel Jones at No. 6. Lock was placed at the neighboring table, close enough to overhear Jones get the call.

Thirty-two picks came and went that night.

His phone never rang.

“We walked out to the hotel lobby, and we’re all just standing there because nobody really knows what to say,” said Ben Burnham, a childhood friend who received an invite to the draft. “But we all knew that he was going to use it as a chip on his shoulder.”

There are two things — two personality traits — that have prompted Lock to morph into the NFL quarterback who threw five touchdowns in his first two starts, leading the Broncos to a pair of wins.

First, he severely hates disappointing those he cares about. And second, he loves proving others wrong.

Lock opened his rookie season in Denver on injured reserve, a thumb injury in training camp the culprit. But from his Colorado home, he stayed up late into the night studying the playbook and studying defenses, the areas in which he figured he had the most to learn. When he opened his bag to retrieve the homework of sorts, the index card stared back at him.

The Broncos had planned to sit him his entire rookie season. Let him learn. But through only two starts, as head coach Vic Fangio preaches caution and patience, it’s become clear that having Lock start at quarterback now is the best option on the roster.

The future is the present.

“I’ll tell you what — there are some impressive throws,” Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said. “I’m thoroughly impressed with what he’s done.”

After a three-touchdown afternoon in an upset at Houston Sunday, Broncos pass rusher Von Miller called Lock a “(bleeping) rock star.” On Wednesday, fresh off AFC defensive player of the week honors, Denver safety Kareem Jackson said Lock’s energy has infected the locker room. Rookie tight end Noah Fant — drafted by Denver with the first-round pick Lock thought would be reserved for him — said “playing with a quarterback like that, it’s a lot of fun.”

Lock does it with flair, obliging when offensive linemen asked him to imitate Buzz Lightyear for a touchdown dance. The same flair he had at Lee’s Summit. Same as he had at Mizzou. A defense might soon outplay him, and the lows have and will come, but he’s making a point to enjoy the highs. Publicly.

Privately, the lows draw his attention. Most don’t understand how much it bothered him to be instructed to go back to school for another year after breaking an SEC record for touchdowns in a season. Or the anguish of sitting in that green room, feeling as if he let his friends and family down by inviting them all to Nashville to celebrate. “That’s what really tore me up,” he said.

He doesn’t talk much about those things, not even with family. But those close to him don’t need to ask. They know.

“I know my son like the back of my hand,” Andy Lock said. “One thing he doesn’t do is talk about it. But one thing I know drives him are all those things. I know it does. I know the fact he was told to go back to school instead of coming into the draft, I know that drives him. I know the fact he wasn’t in the first round, I can promise you that drives him. He doesn’t talk about it with me. But I see it, and I feel it.”

Which offers one more setting for motivation in the immediate future.

The homecoming

The Lock family will tailgate Sunday in the Arrowhead Stadium parking lots. They have hosted plenty of similar gatherings in Kansas City.

Several with Drew. Lock attended “too many (games) to count” at Arrowhead Stadium as a kid. He described himself as a “pretty passionate” Chiefs fan. Loved Dante Hall. Friends will tell you he thought about playing for the Chiefs one day — his dad played for Chiefs head coach Andy Reid at Missouri — but, you know, Patrick Mahomes has a way of crossing quarterbacks off draft boards.

Lock believes he walked into the ideal situation in Denver, fitting into an offense best suited for his skill set. He hopes to treat Sunday like any other game, but when asked if playing in Kansas City will provide any extra juice, he admits, “Oh, yeah, it’s a cool thought.”

Some of his friends, including those who grew up as Chiefs fans, will be dressed in orange and navy, a No. 3 on their backs. “I’m sure I’ll get a bunch of crap for it, but I don’t care,” Burnham said. “I’m wearing his jersey to the game.”

More than 50 people will try to sit near Lock’s parents in a show of support. The whole city of Lee’s Summit might be scattered across the stadium Sunday, Burnham joked.

They are the ones who truly understand Lock’s journey and the doubt it has encompassed. None are surprised by the card that resides in his backpack. It will stick there for the length of his rookie season, perhaps longer, he said. Maybe he will just look at it almost every day for the rest of his career. Whatever works.

He thought of the idea shortly after receiving the call from Denver general manager John Elway. The wait was finally over. He had opted not to spend the NFL Draft’s second day in the green room, instead watching from his agent’s office a few blocks away. Family and friends joined him there. No one discussed what would happen when his name finally came off the board.

But after he hung up with Elway, Lock turned to his parents and said, “I’m walking across that stage.” They traveled the three blocks to the main stage on Broadway. As Lock emerged through the tunnel — 19 picks later — he literally shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“I felt like I belonged up there,” Lock said. “I wanted to be there. I wanted to do it so when people look back at that video, people will say (that) it wasn’t in the first round; it was in the second round, and look at what he still did.”

And the lasting impact of that clip?

“Just being able to shove it in people’s faces later down the road.”