ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Sit back, relax and let the waiting game continue.
As Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch take the field for the second week of OTAs, the battle for the starting job is far from over. It’s not because either quarterback isn’t worthy, it’s because the coaching staff won’t let either of them win, or lose, the job in May.
In fact, at this stage in the offseason, the quarterback competition is anything but a competition. According to Vance Joseph, Siemain and Lynch are merely students learning side-by-side one another waiting for the “test” come the fall to prove their worth.
“It’s the learning stages of the new offense. The point of OTAs for the quarterbacks is to learn Mike [McCoy’s] system now, so in training camp, they can really compete for a job,” Joseph said. “Right now, it’s a learning process, and Mike’s put a lot of offense in, and some of those plays are really long — I can’t even pronounce them or say them. It’s a process right now.”
While “the process” might not be the instant gratification that fans are looking for when it comes to the Siemian vs. Lynch debate, Joseph believes it’s crucial for the success of the offense come the regular season.
“What you want to do in the spring is have your install where it’s large enough that it carries you through the fall,” he said. “You don’t want to be in the fall, Week 4 and 5, adding more offense or defense. You want to put it all in now, kind of stretch their brains, so in the fall when you add different concepts it won’t be the first time hearing it.”
The coaching staff has backed their words up with their actions, too. During the 10 OTA practices that the team has had, and will have, before their mandatory minicamp in June, both Siemian and Lynch will split the first-team starts evenly — five practices for Siemian and five for Lynch.
However, if either player progresses faster than the other during OTAs, it won’t give them an advantage quite yet.
“I think in the fall you do [give an edge to the player that has picked up the offense quicker] because that’s part of the competition — who can retain information, who can call the play in the huddle, break the huddle and on the field make the sound decisions,” he explained. “That’s part of the competition. Right now, not yet. In the fall, absolutely.”
According to Joseph, the quarterback competition won’t officially commence until the team reports back for training camp in late-July. However, it could find an early start just before the team breaks for their summer vacation during the mandatory minicamp if the final two weeks of OTAs go well.
“It depends on how OTAs go. You don’t want to all of a sudden have 10 OTAs and then kind of speed off with three minicamp practices,” Joseph said. “It depends on how we finish next week how we will go forward with the minicamp… Obviously, in the fall it will ramp up in terms of decision making and who is playing the best at the position.”
For now, the battle between Siemian and Lynch may be best characterized as parallel quarterback install. Come July, it will turn into a competition, and from there, there’s no telling how long it could be until a starter is crowned.
“It’s going to be a long battle I think,” Chris Harris Jr. said. “I don’t think it’s going to be figured out over OTAs or even a couple weeks of training camp. I think this might last till the very end.”
