Drew Lock and the quarterbacks of yester-year

This time of the year is littered with back-of-the-roster transactions as NFL teams get a look at guys in training camp and, occasionally, decide they can do better. One of today’s miscellaneous player swaps holds some interest for Broncos fans, though, as the Tennessee Titans waived their 7th round rookie QB Cole McDonald in favor of a familiar face: Trevor Siemian.

Granted, a faraway team swapping out one 7th round QB for another is just a footnote. And it’s entirely possible that Siemian doesn’t make Tennessee’s final roster anyway. But it does open up more potential for an interesting aspect of the first quarter of the Broncos’ season. That’s because Siemian, who Denver may now see on the other sideline in Week 1, isn’t the only former Broncos starting QB on the slate.

With Paxton Lynch presumably looking to keep his depth role on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster, and the still-recuperating Joe Flacco landing in New York as a backup to Sam Darnold for the Jets, the Broncos are poised to face three of the five active quarterbacks who have previously started games in orange & blue- all in the first quarter of the 2020 season.

Of course, barring the extremely unexpected, none of these three QBs will actually see the field in those games. And that’s if they all actually make their teams’ final rosters. But with any luck, and provided Lock delivers on his promise, we can look forward to a satisfying contrast as the Broncos’ charismatic young signal caller outshines his predecessors.

Lynch got the Sports Illustrated cover (yeah, that was a thing). Siemian got the label. Now we get to see if it’s Drew Lock who will actually prove to be Peyton Manning’ heir in Denver.