Alfred Williams predicts Trevor Siemian will start regular season opener

Mark Sanchez will start at quarterback for the Denver Broncos preseason opener against the Chicago Bears Thursday, but 104.3 The Fan’s Alfred Williams thinks second-year pro Trevor Siemian could be the guy going forward.

During “The Drive with Big Al and DMac” Wednesday, Williams said he believes Siemian, who’s not yet allowed the presumptive starter Sanchez to pull away with the starting role, will not only start preseason Week 2, as expected, but also the remaining preseason games and the regular season opener Sept. 8 against the Carolina Panthers.

“I think it’s going to be Trevor Siemian,” Williams said. “This week it’s Mark Sanchez, but I do believe it’s going to be Trevor Siemian Week 2, Week 3, Week 4 and to start the opening of the season.”

Williams said he spoke with a person close to the Broncos organization Tuesday who told him that the team wanted to take the pressure off Siemian by playing him in the second quarter against the Bears. If he has a good outing, the source said the Broncos could “elevate him to see what it’s like for him to start and play as a normal starter.”

“They just want to make sure that he doesn’t have the pressure of starting Game 1 and then starting Game 2 then being considered the starter,” Williams said. “I think they want to roll him in, get some reps and then next week he’s going to be your starter. That’s the talk that I’m hearing.”

Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak said after Wednesday’s practice that Sanchez and Siemian will receive about a quarter each worth of reps and rookie Paxton Lynch will play the second half.

“What we are going to try to do is put a number on reps and what we want to see from each one of them, so from an evaluation standpoint, we’re looking at things pretty equally,” Kubiak said. “That’s the most important thing right now.”

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