According to Mike Klis, who covers the Denver Broncos for 9News, the team has made a change at quarterback. Head coach Vance Joseph announced to the team on Wednesday morning that Brock Osweiler would be replacing Trevor Siemian as the starter. Joseph had the two quarterbacks meet him at the team's headquarters last night to personally inform them before telling the team.

The rise and fall of Siemian

In 2016, Trevor Siemian beat out first-round pick Paxton Lynch and veteran Mark Sanchez for the Broncos' starting job after Osweiler left in free agency.

He played well enough that season, completing 59.5 percent of his passes for 3,401 yards with 18 touchdowns. Siemian went 8-6 as a starter, missing two games due to injury. The team just fell short of the playoffs, completing the season with a 9-7 record.

This season the Broncos started off 2-0, with Siemian throwing six touchdowns against only two interceptions. However, the wheels have come off since then. The team has lost four of their last five games and he has only managed three touchdowns while throwing eight interceptions. Siemian has already been sacked 25 times in seven games compared to 31 times in 14 games last year. Clearly, this increased pressure has played some part in his performance over the last five games.

Osweiler's journey back to Denver

Brock Osweiler was the backup to Peyton Manning for four seasons in Denver. That final year when they won the Super Bowl, he went 5-2 as the starter while the future Hall of Famer was injured.

He then left in free agency, signing a four-year, $72 million contract with the Houston Texans.

Despite the Texans going 8-6 under him and winning a playoff game, Osweiler struggled last season. He was benched towards the end of the year for Tom Savage before regaining the job after Savage suffered a concussion in week 17. He completed 59 percent of his passes for 2,957 yards with 15 touchdowns against 16 interceptions.

In March, he was traded to the Cleveland Browns in a move to dump salary, leading to Houston drafting rookie sensation, Deshaun Watson. Osweiler was cut by Cleveland in September after they named rookie DeShone Kizer the starter. He then quickly signed a one-year contract to return to the Broncos after Paxton Lynch suffered a shoulder injury.

Is he just a placeholder for Lynch?

Lynch returned to practice for the first time since suffering the injury last Wednesday. On Tuesday, Joseph told reporters that ”He's only practiced four days. So right now, he's been inactive that last ballgame. So he won't be in the mix.”

However, the Broncos have seen enough of Osweiler to know what he is and are likely just hoping he will cut down on turnovers.

Unless Osweiler plays really well, the Broncos will likely hand over the reigns to Lynch when he is fully healthy and ready to play. After all, they did spend a first-round pick on Lynch and have only seen him throw 83 passes. Denver needs to see him play in order to find out if he can be their quarterback of the future.
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