ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Denver Broncos have a unique situation at quarterback, and that's just fine with the guy who drafted them -- John Elway.
The Broncos' executive vice president of football operations/general manager has two young players at the position -- Trevor Siemian just turned 25 and Paxton Lynch just finished his rookie season. And they will account for only a small slice of the salary-cap pie in 2017, as both are still on their rookie contracts.
So, the Broncos believe they have two potential starters at a fraction of the cap cost most teams face at the position, and Elway says he believes with an elite defense the Broncos can still be in the Super Bowl conversation -- if those two force each other to raise their game to win the job.
"I'm excited about the quarterbacks that we have," Elway said this week. "... I'm excited about that position. Last year it was the biggest concern. This year it is not. I think that we have two young guys that have a lot of talent, have a lot to work with and are both competitive and both want to win. The competition that we're going to have between those two is only going to make them both better."
Meanwhile, the Broncos' search for a new head coach continues. This is the first entry in a daily position-by-position series about what kind of roster that new coach will see when he arrives:
Today: Quarterbacks
Monday: Running backs
The alpha: It's Siemian, by the nose of a football or so. He has been the starter for a season, and his teammates believe in his leadership as well as his ability to play with some backbone in tight situations. And don't think he didn't earn piles of respect in the locker room by the way he handled, without any hint of public demonstration or complaint, the pounding he took behind a spotty offensive line -- a pounding that resulted in some erosion in his footwork as the season went along as well as left (non-throwing) shoulder surgery this past week. He finished with three 300-yard games and said he expected to be ready to go before the Broncos begin their offseason program. Lynch's athleticism always will be a lure to put him in the lineup, but at the moment Siemian throws with far better anticipation, sees the field better and could handle more of the playbook.
Salary cap: Here's where the Broncos' plan has impacted the rest of the roster. Though most playoff-worthy teams (including the Broncos during Peyton Manning's tenure) have their biggest cap hit at quarterback, the Broncos have one of their smallest positional investments against the cap at quarterback. Siemian, entering the third year of his original four-year rookie deal, will count $628,195 against the cap. Lynch, on the basis of being a first-round pick last April, will count $2,153,700 against the cap. It has allowed the Broncos to push dollars elsewhere, and linebacker Von Miller carries the "quarterback" contract. The team also has two wide receivers -- Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders -- who each will count at least $9.5 million against the cap next season.
Free-agent picture: Siemian and Lynch are under contract for the 2017 season. Siemian will be an unrestricted free agent after the '18 season, so he has a lot riding on whether he does or doesn't start over the next two seasons. Lynch signed a five-year deal as a first-round pick, so he's under contract through 2020.
What will Elway do? The best way to describe Elway as an executive is never say never, but he has said publicly his plan is to push ahead with Siemian and Lynch. To bring in a veteran to compete for the starting job would impact the amount of on-field work the Broncos could give Siemian and Lynch, which is not something the Broncos want to do at this stage of their development. The team's gamble is based on the belief both want the job badly enough that they'll each make the most of this offseason and come in ready to go and better than they were last season.