“We want to see him play more”: Broncos’ quarterback carousel far from over

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Just when you think it’s stopped, the Denver Broncos’ quarterback carousel keeps on spinning.

Entering Thursday night’s game, there was a clear path for Trevor Siemian to remain the Broncos’ starting quarterback to close out the 2017 season if he just played similar to how he did on Sunday in the win against the New York Jets.

Then, he got hurt.

However, after the heroic performance of Brock Osweiler—and the news on Friday that Siemain will miss the rest of the season with a subluxation in his left shoulder—the path was cleared for Brock to take the reigns the final two games.

Not so fast.

On Friday, a day after the Broncos second-straight win, Vance Joseph was mum on who his starting quarterback would be in the team’s next game in nine days against the Washington Redskins, let alone the remainder of the season.

“I’m not sure,” the first-year coach said on Friday afternoon when asked if Osweiler will start in Week 16. “We’ve got two healthy guys there. We’re going to have a staff meeting on Monday morning and see who’s best for us… Brock played really well last night. He made some big-time throws, and his leadership showed. He played with great poise, and he took care of the football. That’s going to be a long and hard conversation.”

On paper, the decision seems straightforward and blatant: Start the quarterback that posted a near-perfect 147.7 passer rating and led the team his team to a 25-13 victory on Thursday night.

However, with a young first-round pick sitting behind him in a season that is all but lost, Joseph, and the Broncos, want to get a further evaluation of Paxton Lynch now that he should be medically cleared to play after injuring his ankle in his first start of the season less than a month ago.

“Paxton being a young guy, we want to see him play more, so that part will have some bearing there. So we’ll see,” Joseph said as he explained what will go into the decision to name a quarterback. “Very possible that we discuss playing Paxton some. It’s no doubt.”

Unsurprisingly, for how unpredictable the Broncos’ merry-go-round under center has been all season, it’s also “very possible” that Osweiler starts against the Redskins and Lynch replaces him midway through the game, according to Joseph.

“We’re going to meet Monday morning and try to figure out what’s best for us now and best for us in the future,” he said in his most candid press conference of the season. “That’s honest.”

Regardless of who Denver elects to start, all signs point to the team not signing a third quarterback for depth purposes. Instead, they’ll add another player on the carousel, naming wide receiver Jordan Taylor as the team’s third-string emergency quarterback.

“We have some toss plays for him. We have some quick game that we’ve taught Jordan over the last couple of months. So, he is our emergency quarterback,” Joseph said. “It’s going to be Jordan on game day if we lose two guys. He’s in, along with C.J. [Anderson] and those guys with wildcat runs… Jordan was our emergency safety last week. He’s done a lot for our football team. He’s a smart guy. I trust Jordan.”

Along with “Sunshine” as the team’s third-string quarterback, the only other certainty on the Broncos’ quarterback carousel is that the ride will end, there’s just no telling when that will be.