OXNARD, Calif. – In January 2025, PJ Locke wasn't sure if he'd ever play football again.

The then-Broncos safety was losing strength in his quads as games went along, so he visited Broncos neurological consultant Dr. Chad Prusmack for an MRI. It revealed nerve damage, a fracture of his L5 lumbar vertebra and a degenerative disk. Locke was told that he could technically play through it, but one hit in the wrong place could lead to a severed nerve.

"I remember going in my car and I was bawling crying, I'm not going to lie to you," Locke said when he heard the news. "I thought my career was done with. My face kind of was wavered a little bit."

Locke's mind went to his son, James IV, and how the risk of not getting the procedure done would impact how he raised him.

"Just like how my dad was with me growing up, little league and all those different things, I was like, 'Man, I need to be able to do that,'" Locke said. "So I was like, 'Man, I'm going to get the surgery.' I had a good run, played seven years, had a good run. And I had to be content with that."

Locke had come to peace with the reality that football was in the rear-view mirror for him and ended up getting the surgery done. Still, he had believers that the best was still yet to come. Eventually, he started to believe too.

"There was a part of me that didn't think I would play, but it was also like I had a great support system," Locke said. "They kept me upbeat, especially my wife. She kept me upbeat and just like, 'Man, just take it one day at a time. Stuff is going to start getting better.' And I started gaining my faith back a little bit. And next thing you know, I was like, 'Man, I'm coming back. I don't care what nobody says. I don't care what the probability was. I'm coming back some type of way.' I stuck with the rehab and I just made amazing strides quickly. It was crazy."

At the start, Locke's recovery journey was far from easy. For the first three months, he struggled to get out of bed and if he dropped something, someone would have to pick it up for him. Slowly but surely though, he made progress, and in an April visit to Prusmack's office posted on his YouTube channel, he told Locke he "could not get a better outcome."

"It was amazing," Locke said. "It was amazing how my body just healed up so fast. And the docs were amazed as well. So just all glory to God at that point."

Sure enough, Locke came back and played in 18 games last season for the Broncos, and came down with a crucial interception on Josh Allen and the Bills in the third quarter of the AFC divisional round. That play, along with every other snap gets, is never a wasted one for Locke.

"Every time I touch that field, I thank God for just the opportunity to continue to play the game that I love," Locke said. "And yeah, we still going. We still going. And that's a story that's going to live with me forever."

Having to go through a strenuous rehab process isn't the only time that Locke has faced adversity in his NFL career. After wrapping up his collegiate playing days at Texas in 2019, Locke went undrafted, which he called "one of the worst days of my life."

Locke would end up signing with the Steelers as a UDFA and thought he'd make the team, but was released during final roster cuts and ended up being at home for four months. From there, he would sign with the Broncos on a futures deal after a successful workout and ended up on the practice squad, where he never looked back.

"From that point on, I didn't take that time for granted," Locke said. "I honestly didn't take special teams serious because I started in college, didn't really play special teams in college. So that was one of the biggest things. I used special teams to buy me time to understand the IQ of the defense."

"I wasn't a guy that came in and just understood football. I knew coverages, but the ins and out of coverages and why you run them, that's huge as a safety, especially going into Vic Fangio's defense at the time, understanding that. I think all those things just was a testing to me just looking forward and also learning myself, learning the defense and giving an opportunity present itself, cash out on it. So yeah, it was a lot, man. It's a lot."

Locke's newest opportunity is with the Dallas Cowboys as he heads into his seventh season in the league. He's reunited with his former defensive backs coach with the Broncos, Christian Parker, now the Cowboys' defensive coordinator.

"It's been great, honestly, man," Locke said of working with Parker again. "I feel like we have an open line of communication.  I know what he wants his defense to look like. There's some caveats here and there that we got to iron the kinks out, but other than that, I know exactly what he wants. I've been in the same system for eight years and I had some of my most productive years with him as my DB coach. It was a no-brainer for me when stuff aligned to come here with him and be a Cowboy."

When Parker first began coaching the Broncos DBs in 2021, there was an adjustment period for Locke to reach the standards Parker set for his position room.

"I had some growing pains when he came [to Denver]," Locke said. "He demanded a lot. He was very intentional detail. And me just being young, trying to figure out the IQ of the game and then trying to figure out the ins and out of a defense, he was real big and harping on communication from the safeties. Being able to get guys lined up, kind of being a quarterback of the defense in a way. I think all through those years, he was tough, and I think now I kind of realized why he was so tough."

Now in his shoes as the newcomer is Cowboys first-round pick Caleb Downs, who Locke has built a relationship with beginning during Dallas' OTAs and minicamp. The two would often get work together after practice, and Locke described it as the two having to "deposit money every single day."

How much is in the bank between them?

"We don't even check it," Locke said. "It comes down to it's one of those games where we need that rep, we need that interception or whatever the case may be. That's what you do it for. And at the end of the day, it's all about attention to details. It's all about the boring stuff, the fundamentals. You can't get bored with the small details."

"I think that's what extends a person's career. And it's boring, man. It's boring to go out there. If you playing press corner to go out there, step and replace. Feet before hands and all those type of things. It's boring to work on that, doing a hundred reps of those every single day. But at the same time, you got to be obsessed with those details."

Being obsessed with the details is something that Parker has emphasized to his team ahead of their first year playing together. Locke believes that approach combined with the players the Cowboys have on defense gives them a chance to do something special together.

"I wouldn't have came here if I didn't think this defense had everything, all the pieces, the coaches to make it to the promised land, which is obviously the Super Bowl, right?" Locke said. "We have two of the best nose tackles in the league in Quinnen Williams and [Kenny Clark], and it starts up front, defending the run. And then we get DaRon, a healthy DaRon Bland back. We got Shavon Revel just really stepping up. And he's a freak of nature. He can run a 4.3, 6'3", probably 6'4". He's lengthy and he has great feet. And then you add Caleb Downs and then you got [Malik Hooker], add [Jalen Thompson], all these different guys, man. You got [DeMarvion] Overshown in the middle."

"It's endless, man. I think you bringing in CP, him being an attention to detail guy and allowing everything to be simplified so we can go out there and play fast, that's the formula right there, man."

In his second chance of sorts at football after his spinal fusion surgery, Locke's goal is to be the best version of himself and accomplish the goals he's set out for himself. In 2026, he'll strive towards achieving one of them: Winning a Super Bowl with the team he grew up rooting for.

"It'll be a blessing to bring a Super Bowl," Locke said. "I know we haven't been to Super Bowl a long time, and it'd be great to bring the Super Bowl back to the city of Dallas. That'd be legendary right there, man. So that's where my kind of mind is set right now."