Gary Kubiak knows he has to name a No. 1 quarterback, but he’s not about to do it any sooner than he has to. The good news for anxious Broncos fans is that he must do it next week.
The Broncos travel to Chicago for their first preseason game on Thursday, Aug. 11, before then Kubiak will have to name his top signal caller. (At least for the time being.)
The presumptive starter, eighth-year pro Mark Sanchez, has yet to separate himself in the quarterback battle. Trevor Siemian, now in his second year, drew high praise from Kubiak on Saturday. And rookie Paxton Lynch has shown why he was a first-round pick, but also that he’s still a rookie.
Following Saturday’s practice, Kubiak met with the media and answered questions about the quarterback race. Here’s a compilation of all the QB-related questions he fielded on the day, courtesy of Broncos PR.
On the quarterback depth chart
“We’ll see. I guess we have to put that out next week. We’ll see. We’ll have something for you, I know that.”
On the development of QB Trevor Siemian
“Every time you all ask me that, I think my answer is the same. I don’t think I use the word surprise, but I think I’m excited watching him become a player. He’s very confident. He knows exactly what we are doing. He’s really a first year player in a lot of ways. You see him getting better. He had a really good practice today. Trevor is just a confident kid. He carries himself confidently [and he’s] pretty quiet. The more he continues to play, the better he is going to be. It’s a good opportunity for him to compete and become a better player. He’s doing a good job.”
On Siemian’s personality
“You want guys to be themselves. There are quiet quarterbacks that look quiet on the field, but in the huddle they are a little smirky and have their ways of getting guys going. Trevor has that personality. We see it in the locker room and we see it out here on the field. [QB] Mark [Sanchez] is more of an Energizer Bunny, jumping around all of the time. I just want you to be yourself. Players respond to the guys that are themselves and confident.”
On the type of quarterback he was
“I was a backup (laughs).”
On splitting the reps in the first preseason game
“I have to go back and look at how we’ll play. Obviously we are going to play three groups. We are three deep right now in camp. We’ve been holding up pretty good physically, so we should be three groups deep going into the game.”
On playing the quarterbacks with the first team
“I’m going one week at a time. I am going to make a decision on what we are going to do next Thursday in Chicago, and I haven’t even come close to doing that yet.”
On balancing the aggressiveness at the quarterback position
“I want guys to be aggressive. I can tell you right now, as a coach, one of the things I’m coaching Mark on is when plays get extended, sometimes plays get long and some of his decision process needs to be better. That’s something we are working on. I want them to be aggressive and go make plays. Obviously the responsibility of protecting the game, not just the ball, but the game is part of their position. You have to be a good decision maker. We’re working on those things with all three of them.”
On the ball Siemian throws
“Trevor has a really good arm, you guys see that. He spins it really good and has the ability to get the ball down the field. He is understanding when to give guys chances, back shoulder balls, things like that. That’s just him improving as we go.”
