The quarterback competition between Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch hasn’t gone according to the desired plan of the Denver Broncos. We’ve heard reports since before training camp began that Lynch was failing to claim the job the Broncos expected him to seize. After all, John Elway has gushed about this kid since before last season, and he traded up last April to land the Memphis product.
Now comes another report, this one from Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports, that suggests things could be even worse than people realize. Robinson believes Siemian might just win the job again by default and elaborated on why that is the case.
“If you believe the practice tape that others have watched, Lynch has lost every single practice session to Siemian. His sparse collection of good days has been – at best – on par with Siemian’s good days. Lynch’s bad days have been exponentially worse. Most notably, a practice in which he threw three straight interceptions and left Elway clench-jawed.”
Eek.
As Robinson noted, there is a silver lining in that “It’s still the first week of August and neither quarterback has faced a defense that isn’t their own.”
Valid point, there.
However, Lynch should have been able to hone his skills enough to this point in his development to take the starting job. After all, he’s only one year behind Siemian, and the two of them are on equal footing as it concerns learning Mike McCoy’s offense this year. On top of that, Lynch was a highly regarded first-rounder, while Siemian was a nobody seventh-round pick who would have been undrafted if not for the fact that Gary Kubiak took a liking to him coming out of Northwestern in 2015.
If Lynch continues to prove ineffective, both as a quarterback and leader, then the Broncos will have some serious evaluations to make about the future at this position. Siemian is serviceable, at best, and should not be the guy Denver leans on to lead the offense in the years to come. And if Lynch cannot beat him out, then he’s not the guy, either.
We’ll be watching this camp battle continue to unfold with no small amount of interest in the coming weeks. Preseason games will likely determine the winner, so stay tuned.