Breaking down new Jets quarterback Trevor Siemian

The New York Jets have signed their new backup quarterback for the 2019 season in former Denver Broncos starter Trevor Siemian.

For the first time in what seems like decades, the New York Jets didn’t go into the offseason with a question mark surrounding their quarterback position. They had secured their franchise signal-caller in last year’s draft with the selection of the promising Sam Darnold and thus were not in the market for a new starting quarterback.

But that doesn’t mean they weren’t going to dabble in the backup QB market.

It has been reported that former Denver Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian has signed on with the Jets for the 2019 season. The deal is reported to be for one year and worth $2 million with incentives that could bring it up to $3 million.

Siemian has had quite the interesting NFL career to this point entering the league as a seventh-round draft pick of Denver’s in the 2015 NFL Draft. After a relatively lackluster career at Northwestern, Siemian didn’t anticipate on being drafted so he actually had a career in real estate lined up in case his NFL career didn’t work out.

The Connecticut native did, in fact, make the 2015 53-man roster but only appeared in one game, taking a knee in a late-December game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, Siemian was given the surprising opportunity to be the team’s starting quarterback the following season following Peyton Manning‘s retirement.

Siemian beat out rookie Paxton Lynch and Jets legend (sarcasm very much intended) Mark Sanchez for the starting job, a position he would hold for the entirety of the 2016 season. That year would prove to be the peak of Siemian’s career thus far as he would lead the Broncos to a 9-7 record throwing for 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions even being named an alternate for the 2017 Pro Bowl.

However, Siemian’s fortunes would take a turn for the worse as he struggled through a poor 2017 campaign hampered by injuries and inconsistent play. He would find himself benched in favor of Brock Osweiler and ended the season on the injured reserve before being shipped away to the Minnesota Vikings ahead of the 2018 season.

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The Northwestern product wouldn’t see the field in 2018 backing up Kirk Cousins in his first season with Minnesota.

Now, Siemian finds himself in a similar situation as the clear-cut backup to the young Sam Darnold. He will likely replace the role that veteran Josh McCown filled for the Jets last season as the soon-to-be 40-year-old is unsure of his intentions going forward.

The Siemian signing makes a ton of sense as he comes at a much cheaper price than McCown did last season and gives the Jets a relatively young backup with starting experience. A while back, The Jet Press created a list of the top 25 free agent targets for the Jets this offseason and Siemian managed to crack the list as the only quarterback.

Call us physics or maybe just beneficiaries of dumb luck.

Regardless, Siemian is an ideal backup option as he would give the Jets a fighting chance if Darnold were forced to miss a few games. Expect him to compete with Davis Webb for the backup job in preseason but it’d be surprising to see the inexperienced Webb come away with the job.

And that’s totally fine.

As much as people want to see what Webb can do, he’s an unproven commodity and shouldn’t be trusted with the starting job if Darnold were to go down with an injury. Siemian at least gives the Jets a player who’s had success as a starter in the past who could keep the team competitive if the worst were to happen.

For just $2 million, Siemian may very well be one of the best bargain deals for a backup quarterback in the league. For the first time in a while, the Jets appear to have a stable backup quarterback situation that they’re not overpaying for.