The Denver Broncos are having an open competition for their starting quarterback position, and it’s time for Trevor Siemian to get his shot…
The Denver Broncos are having an open competition for their starting quarterback position, so why wouldn’t Trevor Siemian get a legit shot?
There have been far too many hot takes this offseason about what the Broncos were going to do in terms of assembling the competition, myself included, and it has extended into the preseason.
Siemian has been discredited due to his draft status, the amount of check-down throws he made early in camp, and simply because he’s not Paxton Lynch.
Mark Sanchez has been discredited due to his track record in the league, his propensity for throwing interceptions, and also the fact that he’s not Paxton Lynch.
As much as we all want Paxton Lynch to seize the Broncos’ starting quarterback position immediately, what if the Broncos aren’t ready to pull the trigger on the rookie yet? What if they are taking a more patient approach?
There's been lots of talk about how Paxton Lynch is growing & improving in some way each day. But the same is also true for Trevor Siemian.
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) August 15, 2016
Siemian has been doing great so far this offseason, extending into training camp and the preseason. He has a great command of the offense, and is showing more and more confidence throwing the ball downfield.
Aside from Paxton Lynch’s darts in the second half of the preseason game against the Chicago Bears, Siemian made the best throws of the game. The first one was a play that wound up going into the scorebook as an incomplete pass, when Siemian fired a dart to the back corner of the end zone to wide receiver Bennie Fowler.
The throw was a perfect back shoulder placement, and into tight coverage at that. It would have been a tough catch for Fowler, and he was unable to come down with it.
The other throw that Siemian made that really raised some eyebrows was his throw to Jordan Taylor near the end of the first half which put the Broncos in field goal range.
Not only was the throw great, but Siemian’s ability to avoid the pressure, keep his eyes downfield, and make a strong, accurate throw to the sideline was definitely starter caliber.
Siemian apparently was tearing it up at Broncos Camp on Monday, throwing three touchdown passes with the first team offense.
The QBs went deep — A LOT — today at #BroncosCamp.
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) August 16, 2016
📺 https://t.co/wayxGWUkNp pic.twitter.com/jRReEJCEUr
With Siemian’s growing confidence, it seems to make sense that the Broncos would give him a shot to start against the San Francisco 49ers this week. It might be a trial by fire, but isn’t he ready? At this point, the Broncos need to know if he can be the guy to bridge the gap between now and the time when Paxton Lynch is this team’s starting quarterback.
How soon will that be?
In all likelihood, it will be sooner rather than later, but we simply don’t know that right now. Right now, we need to know what the Broncos have in Trevor Siemian as a starting quarterback. One thing that tires me and even annoys me is seeing fans push for a player to fail just so they can see an outcome they know is eventually going to happen.
My question is, why would you want Trevor Siemian to fail? For that matter, why would you want Mark Sanchez to fail? All of these players playing well gives the Broncos the best chance to repeat as Super Bowl champions, to push each other.
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If Trevor Siemian is a capable starting NFL quarterback, that’s good news for the Broncos, not bad. In fact, it would be a testament to this team’s scouting and their ability to develop talent. Until Paxton Lynch came along, this was the first quarterback that John Elway and Gary Kubiak selected together as a duo.
It may have been with a compensatory pick in the seventh round, but draft status doesn’t dictate success within the Broncos’ organization. We could point to a large number of examples of players that have had great success without even being drafted at all.
The fact is, Siemian has improved. He does have an NFL skill set. He’s not a typical former seventh round draft pick. He has developed into a quarterback that has the ability to at least prove on the field whether or not he has a shot to be the starting quarterback of the defending Super Bowl champions, strange circumstances or not.