ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos keep saying they’re comfortable with either Trevor Siemian or Paxton Lynch as starting quarterback.
As they enter the early stages of the decision-making process, offensive coordinator Mike McCoy believes he has a head start in evaluating those quarterbacks and the rest of the players on offense. McCoy just finished four seasons as Chargers head coach — he was fired at season’s end — so he spent plenty of time preparing for the Broncos’ quarterbacks as an AFC West foe.
“Being in the same division, and obviously I’ve seen more of Trevor since he played more than Paxton, I’ve seen most of those games,” McCoy said. “I had a good idea of what the two players were like.”
It means McCoy already has a foundation as he works his way through the video of last season’s games and begins to construct the playbook.
Certainly the quarterback decision will draw more attention than the other positions on the depth chart, but as the staff installs a new offense, all of the players will face the same challenges.
The quarterbacks have to learn it first while the Broncos decide if they’re going to stick to their public comments and choose a starter between the two. It was a question McCoy asked coach Vance Joseph in their first conversation.
“When I first talked to Vance on the phone I asked him about what his plans were at the quarterback position if he were to take this job, and that was one of the questions when I came in for the interview,” McCoy said. ” … We have two talented players, and we’re going to play the best guy. We’re going to let them come in and compete and go from there.”
Joseph said earlier this week he was “absolutely” committed to Siemian or Lynch being the team’s quarterback while executive vice president of football operations/general manager John Elway said last month his plan was “to proceed” with Siemian and Lynch as well.
McCoy has broken down the Broncos’ depth chart plenty over the last four years as he faced the Broncos nine times in those four seasons, including one playoff game. That said, wide receiver Demaryius Thomas and tight end Virgil Green are the only players in the offense who were with the Broncos during McCoy’s first stint as offensive coordinator from 2009 to 2012.
But he said he’ll lean on some of the work he did leading up to those Chargers-Broncos games in recent seasons.
“It was nice to have seen these players play a number of times on a weekly basis during the past two seasons,” McCoy said. “[I can] say, ‘OK, I have a good idea of what these guys can do.’ … It’s our job in the next couple of months to figure out what each one of those guys do and take advantage of their strengths and try to minimize their weaknesses.”
And Siemian or Lynch, whoever wins the starting job, will also have a lot input on the weekly game plan. As he did with Kyle Orton, Tim Tebow, Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers, McCoy said he wants his starting quarterback to be prepared enough and decisive enough to say when he does, or doesn’t like in that particular week.
“We’ll see what these two players do [well] and what do they like also,” McCoy said of Siemian and Lynch. “I’m big into talking to the quarterbacks, installing from a week-to-week basis and looking at our plans and being open with these players. And saying, ‘What do you really like? What are your favorites?’ When we get into the game plans at the end of the week, I’m going to ask the quarterbacks, ‘What [are] your favorite plays in these situations? Your first and second down calls, what are your favorite plays?’ Just so they have a lot of confidence when they’re under center on game day.”
