Broncos making quarterback switch, will install Paxton Lynch as starter

The Denver Broncos aren’t just getting a new offensive coordinator this week – they’re getting a new quarterback.

Via multiple reports, head coach Vance Joseph informed the team’s three quarterbacks on Tuesday that Paxton Lynch, the team’s first-round draft pick in 2016, will start this week against the Oakland Raiders. The rest of the team is supposed to get the news on Wednesday.

Lynch has not played in a game this regular season, after suffering a shoulder injury in Denver’s Aug. 26 preseason game against Green Bay.

However, days before that injury, Joseph had already announced that Trevor Siemian would be the team’s starting quarterback to open the season.

But it sounds like Lynch may get the rest of the season to show the team what he can do; NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo tweeted that the 3-7 Broncos want to “take a nice, extended look” at the second-year quarterback, and give him a pared-down offensive gameplan to work with.

Siemian was benched earlier this month for Brock Osweiler, and Osweiler hasn’t been much better: starting the last three games, Osweiler hasn’t completed more than 55 percent of his passes in any game and has three touchdowns and four interceptions.

Lynch served as the backup quarterback behind Osweiler on Sunday, when the Broncos lost at home to the Bengals. It was the first time this season he’s been in uniform.

Denver has lost six straight games, its longest losing streak since 1990.

Sunday against the rival Raiders will mark the third start of Lynch’s career; he appeared in three games, starting two, last season as Siemian nursed injuries. In his first start, in Week 5 against Atlanta, he was 25-for-35 for 223 yards with a touchdown an interception, and the Broncos lost to the Falcons. In his second start, in Week 12 against the Jaguars, Lynch was just 12-for-24 for 104 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions, but Denver won the game.