Broncos Give Reps To All Three QBs

Sanchez, Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch all continued to receive first-team repetitions. All had their moments. All misfired at times, with Siemian and Sanchez each suffering tip-drill interceptions during the course of the two-hour practice at Broncos headquarters.

"We're going right down the middle," coach Gary Kubiak said. "What we're trying to do is make sure that they all get their opportunities to work with the first groups. We haven't made a decision like, 'You're one, you're two.' We're all working together."

The Broncos are no closer to deciding on their quarterback now than they were at the beginning of the day. But this is something to which their fans will have to get accustomed.

This is going to be a competition that appears likely to linger throughout the summer, and perhaps into the preseason as Kubiak tries to get a long, accurate look at what he has in his passing trio.

"It's unusual for the most part in this league," Kubiak said. "But I think we have a good situation, too, because I see three really good football players. The only way that they establish themselves and take a team over is if they somehow give them the opportunity to do that."

Sanchez's opportunity began in earnest Tuesday as he took team-period repetitions with all three units for the first time since the Philadelphia Eagles traded him to Denver in March. With just a soft splint on the left thumb that he injured earlier this month, he took snaps under center throughout the practice.

"I felt good," Sanchez said. "I think you're just learning more and more every day and getting more comfortable with the players we have and everything -- all the terminology."

That is one area in which Siemian is ahead -- and guiding both Sanchez and Lynch. Sanchez is rapidly catching up to Siemian, based on his seven previous years of experience and familiarity with a similar scheme he ran with the New York Jets.

"They're both obviously ahead of the young kid right now from that standpoint," Kubiak said. "They're all very capable of running an offense. We'll see. We'll see what happens."

For now, they are working together as they compete. Neither Sanchez nor Siemian is shy about sharing his counsel with Lynch when the first-round pick asks for it.

And Lynch isn't reserved about asking questions or studying. His life is currently a simple one: He rises at around 5 a.m. for the 6 a.m. rookies weightlifting session, takes part in meetings, practices, has more meetings and then goes back to the hotel at which the rookies are housed, where he usually studies for two hours before falling asleep at around 8 p.m.

"At first it was pretty overwhelming just because it was the first time I've seen a playbook that looked like a dictionary," Lynch said. "I was like, 'This is a lot to handle.' When you kind of break it down and you look at it every day, and you learn this on that day, that that day and a little bit extra stuff here and there, it starts coming to you a little bit more. You kind of start spitting it out a little quicker."

And he also is doing better at the nuances of being a pro quarterback.

"You don't think about it that much whenever you break the huddle and walk through the line. It's obviously tough for I think any college quarterback that comes into this system or any pro-style offense," Lynch said. "I'm taking it day by day and doing what I have to do."

But it will be quite a while -- months, perhaps -- before any Broncos QB knows whether what he did is enough to be the starter in 2016.