ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Just before Gary Kubiak stepped away from his coaching life with the Denver Broncos, he said the team’s quarterback job would be an “open competition’’ in 2017.

And on Vance Joseph’s first official day as the 16th head coach in Broncos history and Kubiak’s replacement, Joseph echoed those thoughts Thursday, saying "whoever’s better, plays, that’s fair."

There you have it. Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch will battle it out to be the Broncos’ starting quarterback in 2017.

And they will do it with a new coaching staff, a new offensive coordinator still to be named and, possibly, a new playbook entirely. But just as executive vice president of football operations/general manager John Elway has said he expected to "move forward" with the two youngsters at quarterback, Joseph framed any and all discussion about the Broncos’ offense Thursday as if Siemian or Lynch and not some other veteran quarterback would be behind center for the Broncos.

Siemian, who had surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder just after the season, started 14 games for the Broncos this past season. Siemian finished with 3,401 yards passing, including three 300-yard games, to go with 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Lynch, the Broncos' first-round pick in last year's draft, started the two games Siemian missed with injuries -- one because of the shoulder, another because of a left foot injury. Joseph said he already had looked at game video of some of the work each quarterback had done this season.

"Quarterback position is the key component of having a winning football team," Joseph said. "Trevor is a guy that’s smart, great footwork, great detail, you can see it how he plays. He makes [few] errors with the football. Paxton, he’s a big, tall slinger of the football, athletic, so different. Hopefully we can build systems around both of those guys and compete. And whoever’s better, plays; that’s fair."

Joseph also called Siemian "a smart kid, fast with the ball" and added "it’s two different guys, they’re both young, they’re both capable, it’s going to be an open competition. That’s going to make both guys better. Whoever’s the best for our team, that’s who is going to play."

The Broncos will be reconstructing much of the offensive staff, including a new offensive coordinator. Rick Dennison, Kubiak’s coordinator, will not return and Joseph had interviews scheduled with Mike McCoy and Bill Musgrave as candidates to be the Broncos’ play-caller on offense.

Whoever becomes the coordinator will have to promise to show an aggressive edge. It was one of the things Elway has said he always liked about the way former Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase called plays, and Gase just happened to be who Joseph worked for this past season in Miami.

"When you play offense that’s attacking, it kind of makes you careful of your calls," Joseph said of what he learned in his time as a defensive coordinator. "When an offense is conservative, I loved it because I could be the attacker. But if an offense can be attacking, multiple personnel groups, multiple formations, that’s what I want it to look like. I want to score points. I want offense with swagger, with tempo."

Because Joseph is a new coach, the Broncos will get an extra minicamp and will start their offseason program slightly earlier than other teams.