Trevor Siemian has helped the Broncos forget about Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler, as the second-year quarterback has started all five of Denver’s five games (4-1) this season. The 2015 seventh-round pick was not expected to be a starter in the NFL, but then again neither was perhaps the best quarterback in league history.
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That isn’t the only connection that Siemian has with Tom Brady. As told in a Siemian profile from Kalyn Kahler of MMQB.com, the Northwestern quarterback had designs on becoming a Patriot when he eventually turned pro.
Kahler quotes former Northwestern center (and Siemian's college roommate) Hayden Baker as saying Siemian, a projected late pick, hoped to go to the Patriots after college so he could learn under Brady while trying to develop into an NFL quarterback.
In 2014, after his junior year, Siemian watched the NFL draft with buddies at his house on Prairie Avenue in Evanston. He was never a league-or-die kind of guy, but with his final college season looming, he paid special attention to how the draft played out. Siemian was disappointed when the Patriots picked Eastern Illinois quarterback Jimmy Garopollo, hoping New England might have waited another year to take a QB. Siemian coveted the opportunity to come up behind Tom Brady, under the tutelage of Bill Belichick, in an organization with a history of developing quarterbacks. “He was like, ‘Ahh I think I could have done well in that offense,’” says Baker.
Siemian has completed 64.9 percent of his passes this season for 1,054 passing yards with seven touchdowns and three interceptions. He’ll likely face off against Brady when the Broncos host the Pats in Week 15.