A 24-year-old quarterback who's never thrown an NFL pass has emerged as a dark horse to start for the Denver Broncos
After losing Peyton Manning (retired) and Brock Osweiler (signed with the Houston Texans) shortly after the Super Bowl, the Broncos were left scrambling to find someone to run the offense.
They traded for Mark Sanchez with the belief that they'd be making other moves, but some of those options - like trading for Colin Kaepernick or Sam Bradford - never came to fruition.
In the draft, the Broncos then traded up to draft Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch, a long, tall, quarterback with a strong arm. Lynch may need time to develop, but he's believed to have a high ceiling. The NFL world figured Sanchez and Lynch would compete for the starting job, with the Broncos hoping to rely, once again, on their defense.
However, with the Broncos now in OTAs, a new name has emerged in the quarterback competition, according to ESPN's Jeff Legwold: Trevor Siemian.
Fans can be forgiven for not knowing much about what Siemian brings to the field. He was drafted in the seventh round in 2015 draft by the Broncos and has only played one regular-season snap. That snap was a knee, meaning he hasn't thrown a pass yet in the NFL regular season, though he did get some preseason action in 2015.
However, Siemian also played backup to Manning and Osweiler last year and has experience in head coach Gary Kubiak's system. Broncos players have been raving about his performance thus far in offseason workouts.
"Trevor has a maturity to him," cornerback Chris Harris told Legwold. "He's kind of the sleeper, I would say. Of course Mark and Paxton are going to be the headlines, but Trevor knows the offense. He's very comfortable and can throw the ball, too. We've also seen him make big plays in the preseason games under the lights. I wouldn't sleep on Trevor to win the job."
Von Miller, though he hasn't been at workouts, said, "Trevor, he can make any throw. We've seen it every day in practice."
According to Legwold, both Kubiak and offensive coordinator Rick Dennison have told Siemian he's a contender for the starting job. Dennison told Legwold that Siemian has improved.
"He said it himself, it's light years from last year. He knows where everybody is. He knows what he's supposed to do and he handles the huddle really well. He's done a good job of really developing and really paying close attention to the two guys last year that played quite a bit for us."
Of course, OTAs are a time when everyone likes to talk up players, and we're a long way off from training camp, preseason, and the regular season. But Siemian knows the system, and it sounds like if he keeps progressing, he could steal the starter spot come September.