The Drew Lock era is about to begin. Or at least it seems like it.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Denver Broncos are likely to activate Lock from the injured reserve list and start him against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.

Rapoport notes that Lock has been taking first-team reps all week.

Lock, who played his collegiate football at the University of Missouri, was selected by the Broncos in the second round (42nd pick overall) of the NFL Draft back in April.

The rookie quarterback seemed primed to start at some point in 2019, but a preseason thumb injury that ultimately landed him on injured reserve certainly made that journey quite a bit more difficult.

Head coach Vic Fangio remained coy on Lock throughout the year, tempering his expectations for the first-year signal-caller back in training camp by saying that he was not ready to be an NFL quarterback and going as far to recently say that it was not entirely necessary for Lock to play at all this season.

But with Joe Flacco hitting injured reserve himself and with Brandon Allen not really factoring into Denver's future plans, it seems only natural to give Lock a start if he is healthy, particularly considering that the Broncos are just 3-8 and are not going to the playoffs.

Lock is coming off of a senior campaign at Missouri in which he threw for 3,498 yards, 28 touchdowns and eight interceptions while completing 62.9 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 147.7.