Clough: Prospect of benching Siemian might be scarier than not

Update: The Denver Broncos made official on Wedneday that Brock Osweiler would start Sunday against the Eagles in Philadelphia. For more, click here.

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Of the remaining 31 teams in the NFL, Sandy Clough said on Tuesday that he believes at least 30, if not all of them, would sit down Trevor Siemian after his past five games.

And for the first time since he named Siemian the starter coming out of training camp, Vance Joseph entertained the idea of someone else playing under center for the Denver Broncos this season.

“Right now, everything is being explored after losing three in a row,” Joseph said Tuesday afternoon just hours after a 29-19 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football.

“Yesterday, having five turnovers I think it’s fair to evaluate everything there. With our team working so hard, the guys putting in max effort yesterday and not having a chance to win the football game, I think it’s fair to evaluate the quarterback and all positions.”

Certainly, Siemian’s performance could warrant a benching, Clough said, pointing to his statistics during the last five games.

Denver has gone 1-4 since blowing out the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2, 42-17. And in that stretch, Siemian has completed just 60.43 percent of his passes, has a quarterback rating of 67.1, and has thrown eight interceptions compared to just three touchdowns.

“There is no doubt that in virtually any other situation in the league … I’m talking about at least 30 if not all 31 of the other teams in the NFL would make a quarterback change from Trevor Siemian at this point,” Clough said.

However, who stands to step up in Siemian’s stead, Clough said, might be an even more dreadful proposition.

“The only thing scarier than moving away from Trevor Siemian, in my opinion, right now would be the alternatives to Trevor Siemian: Brock Osweiler and Paxton Lynch, who is somewhere between hurt and injured,” Clough said.

Reports on Lynch, who returned to practice just last week after suffering a shoulder injury in Week 3 of the preseason, vary widely on if he’s healthy enough to play, Clough said.

“Some people claim that he’s been throwing bullets out on the practice field. You hear on national TV last night … that Lynch really can’t throw the ball,” Clough said. “And that’s what I’ve heard too, that he can’t throw the ball more than 10 or 15 yards.

“He’s not even close to being healthy enough to play.”

And aside from the injury, Lynch could not beat out Siemian for the starting role this preseason despite, by many accounts, having every chance available to win the job.

Instead, Lynch had middling results in just more than two games of preseason action, throwing for 90 yards on 66.7 percent passing for a QB rating of 73.3.

Osweiler, who quarterbacked the Houston Texans to an 8-6 record in 14 starts last season, helped the Broncos on the way to a Super Bowl 50 victory in 2015.

However, after a subpar season with the Texans, Osweiler was dealt to the Cleveland Browns along with a 2017 sixth-round pick and 2018 second-round pick for a 2017 fourth-round pick.

Cleveland cut Osweiler toward the end of training camp, and the once future quarterback of the Broncos franchise re-signed with the club in early September.

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.