Paxton Lynch will open this week with starting offense

May 23, 2017; Englewood, CO, USA; Denver Broncos quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave and quarterback Paxton Lynch (12) and quarterback Trevor Siemian (13) during organized training activities at the UCHealth Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
May 23, 2017; Englewood, CO, USA; Denver Broncos quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave and quarterback Paxton Lynch (12) and quarterback Trevor Siemian (13) during organized training activities at the UCHealth Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Denver Broncos have another week of OTAs, and this time around, Paxton Lynch will start off with the first-team offense…

Another week, another opportunity to talk about which quarterback is practicing with the first team for the Denver Broncos. This week, Paxton Lynch will open things up with the ‘starting’ unit, according to Mike Klis…

Some think it would be a surprise if Lynch was the starter this season over Trevor Siemian. Others feel like there’s no way the Broncos are going to let last year’s first round pick start off another season on the bench.

As far as what this week of practice means for that competition?

Well, it might mean more than people think. There’s nothing being ultimately decided until training camp, but internally, that might not be the case.

Here’s my simplistic style of thinking…

Trevor Siemian won last year’s job after a perfect storm of events occurred that prevented the Broncos from getting Colin Kaepernick. Peyton Manning retired, Mark Sanchez isn’t any good, and Paxton Lynch was about as raw as they come, and was diving into an offense that didn’t suit his skills whatsoever.

Siemian had a year of experience in the offense, which sort of made him the ‘veteran’ among Sanchez and Lynch. The Broncos didn’t really bring anyone else in that could compete with Siemian over the course of the offseason, so he was the starter almost by default.

That’s not happening this offseason.

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Siemian and Lynch are on an even playing field with a new coaching staff and a new offense. The Broncos made a significant investment in Lynch, and based on last season, there’s pretty much nowhere for the Broncos’ offense to go but up.

The Broncos will say publicly that no one is handed a job, but I don’t hear any fans crying out for Donald Stephenson to start at left tackle this season over Garett Bolles based on meritocracy. So why Trevor Siemian?

Siemian is a Bronco, and as long as he’s donning the orange and blue, I’ll be rooting for him to succeed. At the same time, Paxton Lynch is a Bronco. He was drafted in the first round to be the future franchise quarterback of this team. There will be growing pains in a new offense either way, so my question is this:

Why not Paxton?

The media will be at the open portion of practice today, where every throw of Lynch and Siemian will be over-analyzed and dissected. Their daily improvement will be tracked.

Today is an important day for both quarterbacks, but much more so for Lynch as he steps in front of critics at a critical juncture of his NFL career.