Broncos NT Sylvester Williams says QB job is Mark Sanchez's to lose
It's not how they drew it up but if the Broncos proved anything during last year's Super Bowl run, it's that a great defense and just enough offense can mask even serious deficiencies at quarterback.
And Mark Sanchez has certainly proved over his seven-year career an ability to commit mind-numbing unforced errors. Nevertheless, he's the most experienced QB the Broncos have at this point after an offseason that saw the retirement of Peyton Manning and the free-agency departure of Brock Osweiler. Osweiler was thought to be the heir, perhaps until he got benched in Week 17 in favor of Manning after a teammate fumbled, and the relationship soured.
According to nose tackle Sylvester Williams, it's now Sanchez's job to lose. Williams told Tom Pelissero and Bill Polian on their SiriusXM show "Late Hits" on Wednesday:
“Right now, they’re giving all three of those guys equal reps, so I don’t think either one of them has created any advantage at this point, because they haven’t consistently been with the ones yet. But I think, going into the camp, I think Coach Kubiak kind of let us know he’s going to go with Mark and give Mark the opportunity to see what he can do and then go on from there.
“But me, personally, I’ve got a lot of faith in Mark and Trevor as well and Paxton. But I feel like Mark can go out there and get the job done if he needed to.”
It's not a surprising that head coach Gary Kubiak would lean that way at this point in favor of calling it an open quarterback competition. Let second-year man Trevor Semien develop along with the athletic and intelligent, 6-foot-7 Paxton Lynch, this year's first-round draft pick out of Memphis.
Fortunately for Sanchez and perhaps eventually Lynch or Semien, both running backs C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman returned to the team, plus Denver has reformed the offensive line with two new tackles -- left tackle Russell Okung from Seattle and Donald Stephenson, who can also play guard, on the right. And those guys on the outside -- Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas -- they're pretty darn good, too.
