QB carousel spins to Osweiler again
Broncos bench Siemian, hoping to return to passing lane
Gary Kubiak sat at a round table inside the sprawling Boca Raton Resort and Club alongside a horde of reporters, all hanging on his every word as he attempted to calm a swirling storm.
It was a Tuesday morning in March 2016, mere weeks after he guided his patchwork Broncos on a roller coaster to a Super Bowl 50 victory, and just days after his top two quarterbacks bid farewell. Peyton Manning called it a career at 18 years — a good number, he said — and his groomed successor, Brock Osweiler, defected to Houston with a $72 million contract.
The Broncos had just traded for veteran Mark Sanchez, whom Kubiak and general manager John Elway repeatedly hyped, while negotiations continued in the background to try to acquire Colin Kaepernick. Broncos fans know how that ended for both sides. They know the panic that ensued back in Colorado as the reigning NFL champions were suddenly without a clear future or plan at quarterback.
“Now it’s time for us to find the next Brock Osweiler, the next young player for our football team to come in and compete with Mark and whoever we bring in,” Kubiak told reporters then. “That’s what we plan on doing.”
Fast forward nearly 20 months, and the next Brock Osweiler is apparently Brock Osweiler. The Broncos, a franchise whose three championships came with quarterbacking greats Elway and Manning, are now the home of quarterback disarray.
Trevor Siemian, the seventhround pick who won the starting job in consecutive offseasons, has been benched for Osweiler, a second-round pick, who is seemingly holding the spot for Paxton Lynch, a firstround pick, or maybe Chad Kelly, the “Mr. Irrelevant” of the 2017 draft who is still recovering from injuries. It’s not at all clear if any of them will be the team’s quarterback for the long term.
Sunday, the Broncos are on the road to take on a Philadelphia team that features secondyear standout Carson Wentz, who has guided the Eagles to a 7-1 start and is in the early phase of a potential MVP season. The juxtaposition will be jarring, as the Broncos look to end a three-
game losing streak and most eyes monitor their quarterback carousel that spins ’round and ’round, this time without a Hall of Famer on board.
“It came down to what’s best for our football team and, quite frankly, what’s best for Trevor’s future,” coach Vance Joseph said of benching Siemian. “The team was OK with it. They trust Brock. He’s been here before under the same situation. It’s very similar. This is why we signed him.”
“All good quarterbacks are game managers”
Three months ago, the Broncos’ current state at quarterback seemed impossible. But the team with a knack for surprising did just that when it re-signed Osweiler to a one-year contract for a veteran’s minimum. Lynch, their “future,” suffered a shoulder sprain in preseason and would be on the mend for at least two to three weeks. Or eight.
Denver sought a veteran, and Osweiler knew Broncos offensive coordinator Mike Mccoy, knew the system, knew the players and cost mere pennies, thanks to Cleveland. The Browns, home to the largest revolving door of quarterbacks in the NFL, are paying the Broncos’ newly appointed starter $15.225 million of his $16 million salary. Bargain.
But still, this seemed impossible — just as Trevor Siemian, the dark horse of 2016 winning the starting job seemed impossible. Just as Mark Sanchez losing out to Siemian seemed impossible. Just as Lynch not grabbing hold of the starting job two years in a row seemed impossible.
“There’s so much to learn for young quarterbacks with what these defenses are doing these days,” Mccoy said. “There’s a number of different reasons why certain plays struggle at certain times. How is the team playing around you? Are guys winning outside? Are we running the ball efficiently? How is the protection? There’s so many things that go in the evaluation and a lot of times when you grade a quarterback people just want to look at the mistakes and not look at why did certain things happen.”
Joseph called Siemian and Osweiler into team headquarters Tuesday to inform them of the latest change that seemed days in the making after three turnover-filled losses. For the seventh time over the last three years, be it because of injury or performance issues, the Broncos were onto a new quarterback, though they emphasized their woes on offense didn’t rest solely on Siemian’s shoulders.
“On offense, everyone has to play better,” Mccoy said. “We have to coach better. We’re all in this together. It’s not one guy. You’re not looking at one position saying this is the reason.”
In seven starts this season, Siemian went from a quarterback drawing comparisons to Manning for his poise and smarts in the pocket to one being ridiculed for his mistakes, his 10 interceptions and his 19.0 quarterback rating under pressure, according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).
The fall was sharp and the change unavoidable.
“All of the good quarterbacks are game managers,” Joseph explained. “That’s a negative term in football, but it shouldn’t be because to be a quarterback, you have to manage the football game. That part, he’s been struggling with. In my opinion, for his best interest, he needs to take a step back to watch Brock operate in meetings and on game day. It’s going to help his future.”
Interestingly enough, in Osweiler’s seven starts for Denver in 2015, he went from a quarterback drawing comparisons to Manning for his similar stat line in his Broncos debut, to one being ridiculed for taking sack after sack. The critics only grew louder in Houston last year as his interception total (16) topped his touchdown total (15) and he took 27 sacks. Under pressure, Osweiler had the sixth-worst quarterback rating (49.9) in 2016 and the sixth-most interceptions (seven), according to PFF.
“Maybe in that situation I was trying to do too much. I think like smart players ... you would learn from that and you’re not going to replicate that,” Osweiler said. “… I feel sometimes the best thing to do with a quarterback when he’s not playing well or he’s going through some tough times is pulling him out of the fire and making him the backup or the third string, and letting him observe. That’s what I’ve been able to do.”
And that’s what Siemian is involuntarily doing now. But as Osweiler takes over, he does so under the cloud of Lynch, the quarterback with the largest salary cap hit.
Lynch has started two games in his young career and resumed practice in recent weeks. But he will remain inactive for the second consecutive game Sunday. When he returns to full health and “football shape,” the calls for him to be a starter will be loud, sending the Broncos’ quarterback quandary into greater chaos.
“I’m tired of losing”
All-pro cornerback Chris Harris has experienced three three-game slides in his career: two that bookended the Manning era, and the one the Broncos are experiencing now — the one that seems to be the most frustrating of Harris’ career.
When the Broncos lost on the road to the Chiefs last Monday, Harris, as usual, was brutally honest with his assessment of the team’s play and rising tensions.
“I’m tired of losing. I’m tired of losing the same way every game,” he said. “… There’s high tension. We’re not winning. We’re not taking care of the football. We’re giving the games away. We had some crucial chances to make a stop to give us a chance. We got back on the turnovers, which was a positive. Other than that, it was an ugly game.”
The Broncos have insisted there’s no division between their offense and defense, but there’s no denying the obvious: For the past 2½ years, the defense has carried the offense as it has struggled to score and secure the ball.
“(It’s) kind of an ‘it is what it is’ reaction,” outside linebacker Shane Ray said of the latest switch at quarterback. “Defensively, we try not to get wrapped up in everything that goes on with the offense. We try to focus on doing us. What’s best for the team is what’s best for us. Whatever they feel like is necessary for us to stop turning the ball over so we have a chance to win — that’s the upstairs guys and the coaches. We just have to play.”
The reality is the defense is growing tired and the offense is increasingly frustrated. While a jump-start is needed and a quarterback swap may provide just that, a few wins here without a clear future is merely a Band-aid on a deep wound.
The Broncos of 2017 are looking eerily similar to the one reeling from the loss of Elway in 1999.
The carousel is still spinning. Hop on.