Mark Sanchez cast out of Denver Broncos starting role

If Saturday’s preseason tilt with the Los Angeles Rams was to be the Denver Broncos, Mark Sanchez couldn’t even manage playing the understudy.

That was Paxton Lynch –– the rookie first-round draft pick who went from promising but not quite ready for NFL action to one injury from leading the defending champs onto the field.

Speaking of the leading role, that goes to Trevor Siemian, the second-year quarterback who didn’t necessarily dazzle nor derail a Super Bowl caliber defense.

The two unlikely storylines –– perhaps worthy a season finale of “Hard Knocks” –– have now been realized. It’s fitting it played out HBO infiltrated Rams.

It’s an uplifting tale for the two young quarterbacks –– just a kneel-down snap in the regular season among them.

It’s a tragedy for Sanchez.

The former Jet and Eagle could soon add Bronco to the list of ex-lovers as Siemian seemingly cemented his starting role as Denver quarterback Saturday night with a performance of 10-of-17 for 122 yards, a touchdown and a pick.

Sanchez failed to see the field.

“I sat down with Mark this morning before breakfast, and I said, ‘Mark, I’m going to play Paxton second, and if things go the way I think, if Trevor plays as long as I think he’s going to play, I’m not going to put you in there with four, five minutes left in the game,” head coach Gary Kubiak said after the game.

Kubiak said he’ll “continue the evaluation process,” saying he’ll make a decision on who’ll be the team’s starter come the Sept. 8 season opener against the Carolina Panthers.

Siemian said after the game he felt as if he did enough to win the starting role, but said that’s a decision above his pay grade.

“I feel confident,” Siemian said. “Ultimately, that is up to Kubs.”

Sanchez’s fall from grace comes just a few weeks removed from the veteran being presumed the starter by many, despite Kubiak’s insistence that the competition at quarterback was real and open.

However, Sanchez, who started preseason Game 1 against the Chicago bears, never managed to distance himself from Siemian, and later Lynch.

Siemian started the team’s second preseason tilt against the San Francisco 49ers, engineering a scoring drive but also throwing a pick six.

Sanchez had chances against the 49ers to put distance between himself and Siemian but two fumbles in the red zone late in the first half left him feeling that he missed his shot.

“I just squandered a great opportunity to separate myself, and I put the team in a bad situation. There’s no excuse for that, poor, poor quarterback play,” Sanchez said after the 49ers game.

Sanchez made a quick exit Saturday night from the team’s locker room.

Through three games in the preseason, Sanchez leads the team in QB rating (85.3), completion percentage (66.7) and yards per attempt (7.3).

However, among the three Sanchez leads in turnovers (two fumbles and one interception).