As his surgeon reached for his drawer to pull out a reflex hammer, P.J. Locke sat on a doctor’s office in mid-February, visibly nervous.
“Your favorite test,” Dr. Chad Prusmack, a neurological consultant for the Broncos, told Locke. “Relax.”
He tapped Locke’s left leg. He tapped Locke’s right leg. They twitched. Prusmack grinned up at the Broncos safety, giving him a fist-bump. And Locke clapped, beaming, the career-altering stitches on his lower back vindicated.
“It work again!” Locke cracked. “That (expletive) was dead, last time.”
On Jan. 13, 2025 — exactly one day after Locke roamed for 76 snaps in the Broncos’ wild-card loss to the Bills — the 28-year-old safety visited Prusmack’s office for an MRI.