The Broncos want to get a look at 2016 first-round draft pick Paxton Lynch as their starting quarterback, but it appears they’ll have to wait until Week 17.
Brock Osweiler is expected to start this week both because he played well last week and because Lynch is still not 100 percent recovered from a sprained ankle, 9 News in Denver reports.
That’s less than ideal for the Broncos, but nothing about their quarterback situation this season has been ideal. Osweiler, Lynch and Trevor Siemian have all taken turns, and they’ve all been disappointing -- with the exception of Osweiler’s performance last week, when he played very well in relief of Siemian after he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.
Osweiler becomes a free agent after the season and is auditioning for another shot with either the Broncos or some other team. He certainly won’t get anything close to the contract the Texans gave him in 2016, but he’s hoping to play well enough that teams would at least consider giving him a shot to compete in 2018.
Siemian is under contract for one more year and a salary of just $705,000 in 2018, so it’s unlikely that he’s going anywhere. But given his performance this season, it’s also unlikely that he’s going to be the starter next year.
As for Lynch, he has to be considered a major disappointment as a first-round pick. In his first two NFL seasons he has started just three games and has a passer rating of 73.3. The Broncos hope to get another look at him, so if his ankle is better a week from now, he’ll probably start Week 17. But it’s unlikely that he could do enough in one start to make the Broncos confident in him heading into 2018.
So the Broncos are likely to go shopping for another quarterback next offseason and have him compete with Lynch and Siemian. The most likely result will be that the Broncos’ Week One starter is not currently on their roster.
