Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph addressed the media on Monday and indicated the quarterback race is currently ’50-50’…
Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph sent a message to his young quarterbacks on Monday when asked how open the competition at quarterback is for 2017. Obviously, the Broncos have two young players at that position in Paxton Lynch — a former first round pick — and Trevor Siemian, a former seventh rounder who started the majority of the team’s games last season.
Siemian’s ‘seniority’ over Lynch doesn’t appear to be any advantage, at least if you take Joseph’s comments at face value.
“It is open, guys. 50-50, it’s an open competition,” Joseph stated at a press conference on Monday. “We’ve got these two young guys that (have) bright futures, you know? It’s open, it’s going to go down to the wire I hope. Right now, it’s a new system that’s going into place here with Mike McCoy. It’s a fair, open competition and the best guys will play.”
There are a couple of important notes in there, despite the fact that Joseph was basically just making a general statement that likely holds true for many positions on the roster.
First of all, he said ’50-50′ in regards to where both guys are at. Second, he mentioned the fact that there’s a new system being installed by Mike McCoy.
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There’s probably not a whole lot to read into that, but with Siemian having won the job this past season, it’s interesting that he doesn’t have any sort of edge over Lynch at this point, at least when you hear ’50-50′.
It’s also interesting that Joseph mentions the change in system as that was a huge advantage a year ago for Trevor Siemian having knowledge of Gary Kubiak’s offense where Mark Sanchez and Paxton Lynch did not.
The year Siemian spent learning Kubiak’s offense proved to be the determining factor for letting go of Sanchez and rolling with two essential rookies in 2016. That was of critical importance a year ago, but no longer exists for Siemian.
To me, Siemian’s biggest advantage is the way he won over the locker room. He’s obviously a great teammate and friend to a lot of the guys in the locker room, and having come off of a torn ACL in college, he fought back and earned a roster spot in 2015 before winning the starting job in 2016.
Some of the players may be rooting for Siemian, but the advantage Lynch has is the investment John Elway made in him. Lynch was a first round pick, and it cost the Broncos an additional third round pick to move up and get him. Elway probably won’t sit around and watch Lynch sit on the bench much longer, especially if Siemian is struggling like he did in 2016.
Like Joseph said, though, the competition will be fair, and especially so with Siemian reporting to OTAs with a clean bill of health.
After the 2016 season, Siemian had surgery to repair an injury to his non-throwing shoulder. At the press conference, Joseph declared Siemian completely healthy and a ‘full go’ for offseason activities.
Buckle in, Broncos Country. This will be a fun ride.