BRONCOS QBs DUEL AGAIN BUT WITH A NEW GAME PLAN
Learning curve for Siemian, Lynch will turn into outright competition
Two years ago, Trevor Siemian was a littleknown quarterback prospect out of Northwestern hoping an NFL team would take a flier on him as the 2015 draft concluded. He didn’t expect to get picked. But he hoped he would be signed as a college free agent shortly after the draft, at a time when he was still recovering from knee surgery. “One pick before 250, his phone rang and I could see Trevor and he just lifted his fist in the air and I looked on the TV and it said, ‘250th
pick, the Denver Broncos take Trevor Siemian,’ ” his mother, Colleen Siemian, recalled last year.
The Broncos spent one of their seventh-round compensatory picks on a quarterback most expected to hang in the shadows, if he stayed around at all.
Last year, they traded up to get a kid out of Memphis who spent his last moments as an NFL prospect in a bowling alley in his hometown of Deltona, Fla. Unlike Siemian, Paxton Lynch expected a call, maybe on Day 1, if not on Day 2. So he went bowling, he checked his phone a lot, and then he went out back to toss a football with friends when his agent’s phone lit up, showing a 303 area code. Tears and celebration followed — and thank goodness, because Lynch didn’t have plans for a Day 2 party.
On Tuesday, two days before this year’s draft starts, the pair took the field for the first time this offseason as part of voluntary veteran minicamp. Their divergent paths led them to the same spot on the same field vying for the same job while learning the same — but new — playbook.
This quarterback competition has created a bit of deja vu for all involved. The players are the same and the prize just as grand. But the game is different. The judges are, too.
“They both did a great job of communicating in the huddle. It was really sharp today. They threw the ball well, both guys
did,” first-year Broncos coach Vance Joseph said. He added: “It’s the first day. It’s the first install, but both were very engaged.”
The work was light and limited Tuesday and hardly a gauge of a preseason quarterback ranking. For Siemian, it was his first on-field work with teammates since he underwent elective surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder after last season. For Lynch, it was a different feeling and a different mind-set, with a year of NFL experience behind him.
“It was a lot slower. I knew my way around a bit more compared to last year,” Lynch said. “I had just gotten here and everything was moving a million miles an hour. … It’s a new coaching staff and new playbook, but the fact that you’ve been around these teammates for a year and you have a chance to get to know them on and off the field, it’s a lit- tle easier.”
Offensive coordinator Mike McCoy’s new system, still in the early phases of installation, deviates from the West Coast system employed by former coach Gary Kubiak the last two seasons. The passing game is featured more, and the protections differ.
“I think it’s a good offense. You can find a lot of completions in this offense, and there’s a little more on the quarterbacks as far as protections and getting in the right play,” Siemian said. “But I like it. I obviously haven’t played in a game with it, but I think it’s going to be good, not just for the quarterbacks, but for everybody.”
Last year Siemian and Lynch took 40 sacks combined behind Denver’s porous offensive line. The hits left Siemian with a sprained AC joint in his shoulder and a foot injury that cost him 2½ games on the bench to recover. He underwent surgery in January to repair his injured shoulder and ease the discomfort he felt, especially in the weight room.
Cleared to participate fully in offseason workouts, Siemian said he could have played this year without the surgery. But doing so probably wouldn’t have been easy, or pain-free.
Siemian figures to have an edge on Lynch as the two duke it out again for the starting job, primarily because of his 14 starts last season and the rapport he has established with his teammates on the field. But the hope for coaches is that Lynch will take a leap in Year 2. Joseph has said the competition is equal.
With more comfort playing at the pro speed and in a system that projects to fit his strengths, Lynch is primed for a critical offseason.
“The more you get reps and the more you see the plays on the field against a real defense, you have it in the back of your mind where you can tuck it down and run it a little more,” Lynch said. “When you first get here, you’re trying to learn the reads and making sure your footwork is (right) and trying to get the ball out on time. But the more you feel that pocket presence, the more you get comfortable in there and have a chance to run around with it.”
In the early going, the Broncos are focused on the basics as they begin to implement McCoy’s offense. But the changes on the field and the year-over-year development for their quarterbacks is already noticeable. Both say they’re more comfortable leading the offense this year. Both say they’re eager to be back at work.
But as draft day looms for the class of 2017, how and where it all started for them can hardly be forgotten.
“I didn’t expect to get drafted, so it was cool to get that phone call even as late as it was,” Siemian said. “It was kind of surreal, too, when it hits you. It sneaks up on you, even when you do all this prep for it. But a really cool time for any of us.”