Easygoing Siemian takes Broncos reins
Second-year QB uses consistency, even-keel approach to win starting job
For Trevor Siemian, this almost never happened. A few times.
But here he is, the player who is replacing Peyton Manning as starting quarterback for the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos.
But who is Siemian, and how did he get here?
“He was pretty darn freaking consistent,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald told USA TODAY Sports in a phone interview. “I mean, really, from the day he showed up until the day that he left. He just approached everything very systematically.”
At first, Siemian’s laid-back, easygoing nature turned heads when he arrived in Evanston, Ill. The folks at Northwestern got used to it. They shrugged their shoulders and repeated a phrase: Trevor being Trevor.
They used it when Siemian entered a season-opening game in the fourth quarter during his redshirt sophomore season and orchestrated a last-minute win against Syracuse. Or when he played pranks on coaches and teammates. Or when he returned to his high school gym this offseason to work out and throw passes to teenagers.
“I don’t think being the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos is going to change Trevor Siemian,” Fitzgerald said. “He has an amazing sense of humor. He’s kind of like what you would imagine (country singer) Luke Bryan would be. Big smile on his face, singing a song, having a cold one and just being a great dude to be around. That’s Trev.”
But Siemian’s path wasn’t paved with overwhelming successes. And he almost walked away from it all.
There was his senior season in 2014 that ended abruptly because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament. There would be no NFL scouting combine. Even his April pro day was in doubt, so he considered getting a job.
“He wasn’t sure if he was ever going to play again,” Northwestern offensive coordinator Mick McCall said by phone. “He could’ve gotten a ( job) offer wherever he wanted. And he even thought about that. But he came back and told me, ‘I’m going to give this a shot.’ ”
Siemian entered the 2015 draft, and the Broncos took a flyer on him in the seventh round with the 250th selection. There were 256 total picks.
He toiled behind Manning and Brock Osweiler last season, playing mostly on the scout team. The Broncos activated him for six games when Manning sat out with a partially torn plantar fascia.
Siemian appeared in one game, Week 15 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He entered for the final play before halftime and took a knee. Official 2015 stat line: one game, one carry, -1 yard.
“I was pretty nervous last year,” Siemian, 24, said recently. “I wasn’t getting a ton of reps. I was trying to get a grasp of the playbooks. In that sense, I think I’m a little more comfortable now as in I know my assignments. I know where my eyes need to go. I can help another person out if they’re having a hard time. There’s a sense of: ‘I know what I’m doing,’ but I’m just trying to take it one day at a time.”
At Northwestern, Siemian started 14 games. He completed 58.9% of his passes for 5,931 yards with 27 touchdowns and 24 interceptions.
Those numbers hardly foretell NFL success. And that doesn’t factor in the time he was benched late in a blowout loss in his senior season. Or that at the time of his left knee injury that year he had thrown 11 interceptions to seven touchdowns.
And to think, Siemian had to be coaxed into playing at his Florida high school.
Bob Head, then the coach at Olympia High School in Orlando, had to beg Siemian — a standout shortstop, third baseman and outfielder in baseball — to give quarterbacking a try.
“Once we got him going, I’ll tell you what, he really made an impact,” Head said in a phone interview.
Siemian broke Orange County records with 6,144 career passing yards and 53 touchdowns. That turned him into a three-star recruit ranked in the mid-30s nationally among quarterbacks.
But now, as the starting quarterback of the Broncos, Siemian likely won’t be asked to do too much. Denver has one of the best defenses in the NFL, meaning Siemian’s key responsibility will be simple: Don’t make mistakes.
“There’s just more consistency,” Broncos offensive coordinator Rick Dennison said recently. “He really understands what he’s supposed to do and how he’s supposed to do it. That translates to consistent play and performance. That’s what he’s given us.”
“He was pretty darn freaking consistent. I mean, really, from the day he showed up until the day that he left. He just approached everything very systematically.” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, on Trevor Siemian