ENGLEWOOD – He’s an undersized underdog, underpaid and unshakable. Trevor Siemian, who considered going into real estate when his college career ended on crutches, has spent three consecutive summers forcing the Denver Broncos to rethink their plans.
Siemian has dispatched two former first-round quarterbacks the last two summers following a year’s apprenticeship under Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler, when he flashed so much in training camp that sneaking him onto the practice squad became impossible.
In dispatching Mark Sanchez last season and Paxton Lynch this summer, Siemian has wowed two different coaching staffs while engineering two contrasting offenses.
“That was a huge deal for him being a seventh-round draft pick, being an NFL starter and winning the job two years in a row. That’s a tough deal,” head coach Vance Joseph said after declaring Siemian the winner of the five-month audition on Monday.
“It’s great,” Broncos star linebacker Von Miller said. “I feel very comfortable with Trev.”
So does Joseph, Denver’s rookie coach whose first order of business after replacing Gary Kubiak was to hire Mike McCoy to coordinate his offense and whose second move was to declare his QB job up for grabs in a “50-50 open competition.”
Reapplying for his job was something Siemian took in stride . “Honestly, I think you have to compete for your job every day and every week,” he said.
Just like Manning used to do. “That guy wasn’t content, Hall of Fame or whatever,” Siemian said. “Every day and every week I think you have to earn your job. Quarterback is no different.”
He’s only making $615,000 this year, a bargain for a starting quarterback in an era where the established starters make $20 million and even a quarterback like Chicago’s Mike Glennon – who’s completed 41 percent of his passes this preseason – can command $15 million annually.
Siemian is heading into unrestricted free agency after this season, so other teams could get into the mix and push his price higher if he puts up good numbers. The Broncos could also franchise tag him — this year’s franchise tag for quarterbacks was worth $21.268 million.
Those are heady numbers for a guy who once figured football was in his rearview.
