Denver Broncos QB competition: Paxton Lynch vs. Trevor Siemian

Trevor Siemian

Last year’s starter for the Broncos, Trevor Siemian didn’t exactly endear himself to fans with his play on the field.

Off the field, Siemian says all the right things, even if he’s not a man of many words. He takes a quiet, humble approach in the way he handles his business as a professional. Siemian’s emotions both on and off the field remain fairly stoic, which is both a strength of his and one of his great flaws, in my opinion.

Siemian’s demeanor as a player can tend to give off the vibe at times that he doesn’t care, though we know that’s not really the case. It’s also how he’s been able to nearly throw an interception one play, and come back and make a nice throw on the next. He’s not going to slam his helmet down after a bad play, and he’s not going to do the ‘discount double-check’ after a good one, either.

There’s nothing about Siemian’s game that stands out as spectacular, but as a guy who was in his second year in the NFL and a seventh round pick the year prior, I thought last year he did pretty well as a whole.

Now, was it at a level that I would expect him to be handed the starting job this season?

Absolutely not. Compared to every other NFL quarterback — fair or not — Siemian was below average at best last season.

Siemian made far too many head-scratching throws and the Broncos’ offense this past season was one of the worst I have ever seen. That wasn’t all on Siemian, but he deserves plenty of the blame for the team’s failure to make the playoffs last year.

If the Broncos would have been able to sustain a couple more drives per game, convert a few more third down plays, or score a few more times in the red zone, they might have made it into the postseason despite their shortcomings and youth offensively.

Perhaps not making it was a blessing in disguise for this team, forcing it to make changes across the board.

As far as Siemian’s 2017 prospects go, he is going to probably try and stay in the right lane and put things on cruise control. That doesn’t mean he won’t work hard, but Siemian seems like the type of guy who will be as consistent as possible without taking too many risks, sort of allowing his competition to weed itself out.

If Siemian can make fewer mistakes than Lynch in camp working with the first unit, the coaching staff might be more confident having him as the starting quarterback.