On the final day of training camp, the status of the quarterback competition was exactly same as it was on the first day of camp — a tight competition between Mark Sanchez and Trevor Siemian. After three weeks of training camp and one preseason game, neither Sanchez nor Siemian has emerged as a better option.
Although head coach Gary Kubiak named Trevor Siemian the starting quarterback for Saturday’s second preseason game, he made it very clear that this decision was just for Saturday’s game. When asked after practice on Thursday if this meant the competition between the two quarterbacks was even, Kubiak responded with, “Yeah, no doubt.”
“They’ve been splitting it right down the middle and Mark started last week,” Kubiak said after practice on Thursday. “They should both play with the ones somehow and some way. We will see how the reps play out.”
Even though a starter didn’t emerge throughout training camp, Kubiak is hopeful that the game against the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday will provide some clarity.
“Would I like to [make a decision after Saturday’s game]? Yeah,” Kubiak said. “Will I? I don’t know. We will see (laughter).”
Since the third preseason game will most likely be the last game that the starters play, it would be ideal for Kubiak to have chosen a starting quarterback by then to help the starting offense build chemistry.
And while Kubiak would like a decision after Saturday’s game, he said the decision will be based on much more than just one performance.
“I’m looking at everything — leadership, how they handle the team,” Kubiak said. “Obviously you want to make them each make the same amount of decisions … I would like to see that pretty equal, so I can watch their decision making process and those type of things, but I’m looking at a lot of different things.”
The major difference between the two quarterbacks is this: One is a known commodity (Sanchez), while the other is very unknown (Siemian).
Sanchez, entering his seventh season in the NFL, has proved that he has the skills and leadership abilities to lead a team with a very good defense deep into the playoffs. He led the New York Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship games in 2009 and 2010.
However, Sanchez also has a bad habit of consistently turning the ball over. For his career Sanchez has nearly a one-to-one touchdown-to-interception ratio — 86 touchdowns to 84 interceptions. Unfortunately for Sanchez, this habit of making poor decisions has been present in both training camp and the Broncos’ first preseason game.
Throughout this year’s training camp, Sanchez has been relatively sharp with his decision making, expect for an errant decision every practice or two. Still, these decisions have often come in very bad situations and have ended with defensive touchdowns.
The first preseason game against the Chicago Bears was a great example of how Sanchez has looked this offseason. After starting off red hot on the first drive, going 7-of-8 with a touchdown, Sanchez turned around on the second drive and threw an interception into a crowd of defenders.
On the other hand, Siemian, entering his second season, has only taken one snap in his NFL career — a kneel down before halftime against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Throughout camp and the first preseason game, Siemian has shown that he avoids making the big mistakes that Sanchez is prone to.
In the first preseason game, while Siemian didn’t throw any interceptions, he also lead his team to two field goals in the lone quarter that he played. The biggest hesitation with Siemian is that he hasn’t played on a big stage in his career, so it could be hard for Kubiak to empower him to lead the reigning Super Bowl champions.
It is widely believed that Sanchez would be the safe choice for the Broncos, even if he isn’t the best choice. It would be ideal for Kubiak if one of the quarterbacks comes out of Saturday night’s game as the clear best option moving forward, but as this offseason has proven, Kubiak shouldn’t count on that.
Last season Kubiak successfully dealt with another challenging quarterback situation with Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler. This year, the success of the Broncos may depend on how and whom he chooses to be this year’s starting quarterback, which he hopes he can do sooner rather than later.