DMac: Sunday’s starter will be Broncos No. 1 QB to start next season

Denver Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak said Monday that he had not made a decision on if rookie Paxton Lynch would get the start over second-year quarterback Trevor Siemian on Sunday against the Oakland Raiders.

That decision, Kubiak said, will come sometime this week.

But no matter who it is, “The Drive co-host DMac said on Tuesday that he believes the starter for Sunday’s game will be the starter come opening day of the 2017 season.

“Whoever starts on Sunday is QB No. 1 going into next season, or at least should be. And that could be Trevor. But it could be Lynch,” DMac said. “If it’s Trevor, with promised playing time for Lynch, we’re really just talking about an exhibition preseason game. And there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Joining “The Drive” on Tuesday, former Broncos tackle and 104.3 The Fan’s Tyler Polumbus disagreed, saying he believes the job is Siemian’s unless Lynch really shines against the Raiders.

“I would assume that Paxton Lynch is going to start this game. However, I do not assume that means he’s the presumptive starter going into 2017,” Polumbus said. “I think that this game is just an absolute freebie. There’s no reason in the world to not start Paxton. You’ve got every reason in the world to start him.”

And 9News Broncos Insider Mike Klis, guest hosting along with DMac, said in light of Siemian’s performance in a 33-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday (17-of-43 for 183 yards and a pick), Denver might want Lynch to win over the starting role.

“They want him to develop and pass up Trevor Siemian, even if he will never quite have the command of the offense, even if he will not be ready to read the progression, all that stuff that quarterbacks have to do when they’re back in the pocket,” Klis said. “Somehow, some way they want Paxton to be No. 1 because I think there might be a sense now that as good as Trevor played this year, it’s not quite enough.”

However, Polumbus said the team has probably always wanted to play Lynch, but Siemian’s gotten the nod being that the rookie is not ready. And just because he gets a start doesn’t mean Lynch is ready, Polumbus said, that “doesn’t change anything.”.

But in the event that Lynch exceeds all expectations on Sunday and plays extremely well, Polumbus said his opinion may be changed.

“Maybe, if he balls out, his last impression being, Trevor’s last being bad, he goes into the offseason as the starter. I just don’t think that’s going to happen,” Polumbus said.

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.