Renck: Lynch ‘closed gap’ on Broncos QB job, teammates open minded
Jul 18, 2017, 12:00 AM | Updated: 7:26 am
As the Denver Broncos head into training camp in just more than a week, the same question of who’ll be fit to find himself under center come early September.
Last season, that was clearly Trevor Siemian, the second-year pro who sent veteran Mark Sanchez, the assumed starter by many heading out of OTAs last year, packing.
And this go-around, Denver 7 Broncos Insider Troy Renck told “Schlereth & Evans” on Monday, seems to be “similar to a year ago” but with one slight difference.
“Paxton (Lynch) has closed the gap to where it’s a competition,” Renck said.
In the end, Renck said, the wide receiver corps wants the guy who gives them the best chance to “help them win games,” which Siemian was last season.
“That’s where Trevor starts out, with credibility that he did win eight games,” Renck said. “It wasn’t like he played at an elite level, but he did win games and he showed his toughness and he showed he could do certain things under duress.”
In his first season as an NFL starting quarterback, Siemian went 8-6, completing 59.5 percent of his passes for 3,401 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions.
In contrast, Lynch played in three games and started two in relief of the injured Siemian, completing 59 percent of his passes for 497 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.
A year ago, Renck said he was being told repeatedly that Lynch was not ready, but heading into training camp 2017 “guys have an open mind.”
“He’s closed the gap enough to where he has a real chance to win this job,” Renck said.
In either case, Renck said at some point, from a fan and team perspective, you’d “hope they align behind somebody” because the “backup being the most popular guy in town isn’t great for this offense either.”
“The idea that it’s ‘Team Trevor’ or ‘Team Paxton,’ that’s not great in the big picture. At some point, it’s got to be one of those guys,” Renck said. “And whoever Vance Joseph decides is the guy, they need even the fan base to get behind it.
“And that’s difficult, but the divisiveness doesn’t help this offense. Once they have a winner in this job, they kind of need to go, ‘OK, that’s our guy. Let’s see how he does, see how he plays.’”
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.
