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A day-by-day Broncos player breakdown is something we've been doing since our days at BroncoTalk nearly a decade ago. This year the tradition continues as we look at the Denver Broncos roster heading into the 2015 season in our 90-in-90 series.
Name: Trevor Siemian
Position: Quarterback
Height: 6'3" Weight: 220
Age: 23
Experience: Rookie
College: Northwestern
The Denver Broncos selected Northwestern quarterback Trevor Siemian in the seventh round pick 250 during the 2015 NFL Draft.
During his four-year career at Northwestern, Siemian started 14 games for them. During those 14 games, he totaled 5,931 yards passing, 27 touchdowns, 24 interceptions, and a completion percentage of 59%.
His best season came in 2014 where he totaled 2214 yards passing, 7 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. He completed 58.2% of his passes as well.
Unfortunately for Siemian, he tore his ACL this past November against Purdue which ended his senior season.
You look at those stats and the injury he is coming off, you start wondering how this guy was even drafted. Well, Denver Broncos Head Coach Gary Kubiak said, "he saw something he would like to work with".
"When you look at the film you see pro characteristics," Kubiak said. "He can make the throws, he's very bright. He went to a school where they had a running quarterback and him. They played two guys. When he was playing I really liked what I saw. He played in a tough environment, he played in Chicago where the wind is blowing everywhere. I loved his feet. He's way ahead of the curve."
Before Siemian can hit the field for the Broncos he will need to get close or be 100% recovered from the ACL injury he suffered back in November.
Must Reads
During the rookie, OTA's Siemian showed plenty of zip on passes, but his issue is with this footwork, and playing from under center.
"It's more footwork at this point," Siemian said. "I've been throwing quite a bit, so it's more working from under center and getting back and being dynamic and explosive. I'm just not there quite yet."
Siemian's primary focus pre-Training Camp has been rehabbing his knee. He has spent the summer at Dove Valley with other Broncos players recovering from injuries rehabbing his own injury. So hopefully he will good to go when rookies report to Training Camp on Monday.
Now while Siemian hasn't been able to do much on the field, he's making sure he can do everything he can do off the field to help him on the field when he is finally healthy. That includes knowing the Broncos playbook inside and out.
"I think at this point it's just grabbing a playbook and understanding it through and through," he said. "I'm obviously limited, so I'm not doing as much run-game stuff. But yeah playbook and understanding reads and progressions I think is, for a quarterback, the number one thing right now."
I believe it's safe to assume that Siemian is battling with veteran quarterback Zac Dysert for the third quarterback spot on the Broncos depth chart. Peyton Manning is the clear number one while Brock Osweiler is the backup. So that leaves the third and fourth(if they keep that many) spots of Siemian.
The good:
He does show some flashes of good stuff on tape, and it's promising when the Head Coach says he see's something he wants to work with. That tells me that Siemian has a decent shot at sticking around the team in some capacity in the short term.
I view Siemian as Kubiak's "developmental" quarterback who probably takes Dysert's spot on the team/practice squad.
Obviously how he performs during camp and the preseason(if he plays at all because of his injury) will be key to his roster status going forward.
The bad:
He has a long way to go in the developmental process. He's coming from a spread offense where he rarely played under center. While at Northwestern he didn't exactly put up eye-popping numbers, so how will he translate to the NFL?
It's unknown if he will be 100% by the time camp opens next week. When you're a seventh-round pick fighting for probably a Practice Squad spot, any setbacks could really hurt your chances.
Quotable:
Siemian speaking to the Denver media after being drafted.
"I think the name of the game at quarterback is consistency. I would say I've done a better job at that at certain points of my career. I would definitely not contribute that to a lack of preparation or anything like that. I think I would put myself in the position to go into games and get the job done. One thing I would say I want to improve on is doing better when I have to move around and make decisions in crunch time, and by crunch time I mean when the pocket is collapsing. I could do a better job in that regard, I would say."