Just who is Broncos co-starter Trevor Siemian?
As the Denver Broncos take the field against the Chicago Bears tonight for their first preseason games of the season, Denver fans might see an unfamiliar face at the quarterback position. Though Trevor Siemian, the current co-starter for the Broncos alongside Mark Sanchez, has been with the team longer than any of the other QBs on the roster, few fans know who he is. Ironically, given his college pedigree, it's quite possible that he'll be recognized more by fans of the Chicago Bears than he will be by fans of his own team.
An alumnus of Northwestern University, this will be Trevor Siemian's second season with the Broncos after being taken in the 7th round of the 2015 draft. Siemian largely spent his rookie year on the bench (a few half-ending kneel-downs notwithstanding) as the third name down the depth chart. Obviously, the departures of Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler opened the door for Siemian to compete for the starting job, and signs have been good so far.
That said, by all accounts, the road has not been easy for Siemian. At Northwestern, he only spent his senior season as the true starter. For his sophomore and junior years, he operated as one half of the university's unique dual quarterback offense alongside the speedy Kain Colter. Head coach Pat Fitzgerald used Siemian for his monster arm, playing him primarily in obvious passing scenarios while the shiftier, speedier Colter ran the option. It wasn't unusual to see Colter handle the first two downs at Northwestern before tagging out for Siemian on 3rd down scenarios. And though this meant that Northwestern was, in effect, telegraphing their plays before they ran them, the system worked, and was enough to net Northwestern their first bowl win since 1949 back in 2013.
Though Siemian has always had a cannon for an arm, he had struggled with accuracy across his career. In fact, in his senior season at Northwestern, he threw 11 interceptions to only 7 touchdowns. He also struggled when his line couldn't give him enough time to make reads, leading to a few embarrassing sacks, and one failed 2-point conversion where he just kind of... fell over.
This is why many Northwestern fans were surprised when Siemian was taken with the 250th pick in the draft a year ago, especially since his Northwestern career ended due to an ACL tear. But perhaps the Broncos saw something in Siemian that Northwestern fans did not.
Though Trevor had his fair share of issues at Northwestern, he was almost singlehandedly responsible for some of the best moments in the university's recent football history. From a surprise victory over the then-15th-ranked Notre Dame in 2014 to a heroic last-two-minute game-winning drive against Syracuse in 2012, Siemian has never had a problem dealing with high pressure scenarios. Well, that is, assuming his offensive line holds up.
Gary Kubiak, for his part, has seemed pretty excited about Trevor Siemian since he was drafted, always making a point to mention him when quarterback battles come up. He had pegged Siemian as a "sleeper pick" to win the starting job back in May to pundits that were focusing only on Sanchez and Lynch, and it seems like that prediction wasn't all that off-base.
This preseason will likely be the biggest test Trevor Siemian has faced so far in his football career, and only time will tell whether or not a year under Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler was enough to help him fix the issues that had plagued him at Northwestern. That said, if he truly has improved as much as Kubiak seems to think he has, Denver fans have a lot to look forward to.
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