Trevor John Siemian (born December 26, 1991) is an American professional football quarterback. He played college football for the Northwestern Wildcats and was selected by the Denver Broncos in the seventh round of the 2015 NFL draft. Siemian was part of the Broncos when they won Super Bowl 50, serving as the third-string quarterback behind starter Peyton Manning and backup Brock Osweiler. He has also been a member of the Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears, and Cincinnati Bengals.
Trevor Siemian was born on December 26, 1991, in Danbury, Connecticut to Walter and Colleen Siemian. He attended Olympia High School in Orlando, Florida. On the football team, Siemian threw for an Orange County record of 6,144 career yards and 53 touchdowns as quarterback for three seasons with the Titans. He was also an outstanding baseball shortstop, third baseman, and outfielder, and was voted Mr. Olympia by his classmates during his senior year. Siemian graduated with a 3.9 grade point average and was named to the National Honor Society.
Siemian chose to attend Northwestern University.
At Northwestern University, Siemian majored in communication studies and was awarded Academic All-Big Ten Conference honors in 2013 and 2014. He redshirted during his freshman year of college in 2010.
In 2011, Siemian was a backup quarterback to main starter Dan Persa. He played in eight games, the first against Eastern Illinois. Siemian completed 16 of 26 passes for 256 yards and three touchdowns for the year.
In the 2012 season, Siemian earned a majority of the quarterback reps while Kain Colter saw occasional playing time. In the season-opener against Syracuse, Siemian led the team on a 75-yard game-winning drive after being down by six with 2:40 to play. Against Vanderbilt, he led back-to-back go-ahead drives in the fourth quarter, including a key 34-yard completion on a third-and-15 play. Siemian made his first career start in a game against Indiana, throwing for 308 yards on 22-of-32 passing in a 44–29 victory. Siemian led #21 Northwestern to a 34–20 TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl victory versus Mississippi State, where he led two touchdown drives and scored his first career rushing touchdown.
In 2013, Siemian played in all 12 games and made his second and third career starts, while playing behind "wildcat" quarterback Kain Colter. Against Illinois, Siemian passed for 414 yards, which was the 10th-highest total by a Northwestern quarterback. He threw a career-high 46 times against Minnesota, completing 25. Against Ohio State, Siemian made a career-long pass of 67 yards. Facing Syracuse, he threw a career-high three touchdown passes. Against California, Siemian rushed for a career-high 21 yards. The Wildcats finished with a 5–7 record and missed out on a bowl game. For the year, Siemian threw for 2,149 yards, 11 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. He ranked sixth in the Big Ten for completion percentage (59.7), seventh for yards per completion (12.07), and ninth in total offense (181.8).
In 2014, Siemian started the first 11 games before suffering a torn ACL at Purdue on November 22. Against Notre Dame, he passed for a season-high 284 yards and ran for a career-high 32 yards in a 43–40 overtime victory. Against both Michigan and Minnesota, Siemian posted a career high in completions (32). Facing Penn State, he ran for a career-high three touchdowns. Against California, Siemian threw a 54-yard touchdown and caught a 17-yard touchdown pass. The Wildcats once again finished with a 5–7 record and missed out on a bowl game. For the year, Siemian rushed for five touchdowns and passed for 2,214 yards, seven touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. His passing yards rank him just outside of the top 10 in Northwestern single-season history.
Although he started only 14 career games, Siemian completed college ranked fourth all-time at Northwestern in career passing yardage (5,931), fourth in completions (550), sixth in offensive yards (5,908), and seventh in passing touchdowns (27).
Siemian was rated the 22nd best quarterback in the 2015 NFL draft by NFLDraftScout.com. Anticipating that he would not be drafted, Siemian lined up a commercial real estate job in Chicago. However, he was selected in the seventh round (250th overall) of the 2015 NFL draft by the Denver Broncos. Siemian was the seventh and final quarterback to be taken in the draft.
Siemian made his NFL debut in Week 15 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, taking a knee to close out the first half of the 34–27 road loss. On February 7, 2016, Siemian was part of the Broncos team that won Super Bowl 50 over the Carolina Panthers by a score of 24–10. He was inactive for the game.
Following Peyton Manning's retirement and Brock Osweiler signing with the Houston Texans in free agency, a competition for the Broncos starting quarterback job between Siemian, veteran Mark Sanchez, and rookie Paxton Lynch opened up. On August 29, Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak named Siemian the starting quarterback.
During the narrow season-opening 21–20 victory over the Panthers, which was a rematch of Super Bowl 50, Siemian completed 18-of-26 passes for 178 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions in his first NFL start. He was the first quarterback in NFL history to start the season opener for the defending Super Bowl champion without having thrown an NFL pass. Siemian was also the first Northwestern quarterback since Randy Dean in 1979 to start an NFL game. In the next game against the Indianapolis Colts, Siemian threw for 266 yards during a 34–20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts; 215 of those yards came in the first half. The following week against the Cincinnati Bengals, he became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw 300 yards and complete four touchdowns with no interceptions in his first career road start in the 29–17 victory. Siemian's 132.1 quarterback rating was the highest achieved in the league that week. He was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Bengals. The following week at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sieman began 5-of-7 for 68 yards and an 11-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas before exiting the game with a left shoulder injury after getting thrown to the turf on a sack by Clinton McDonald. Rookie Paxton Lynch would play the remainder of the game, as the Broncos defeated Tampa Bay 27–7 and Siemian secured an undefeated record through his first four career starts. Siemian was subsequently diagnosed with a sprained AC joint and would miss the team's next game, a home loss to the eventual NFC champion Atlanta Falcons.
During Week 12 in a Sunday Night Football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Siemian threw three touchdowns with no interceptions on 20-of-34 pass attempts for 368 yards. Although the Broncos ultimately lost 30–27 in overtime, he achieved a quarterback rating of 125.6, the second-best of his career to date when playing in the majority of a game.
From Weeks 8 to 14, Siemian was one of only three quarterbacks who averaged over 300 passing yards per game (the other two were Tom Brady and Kirk Cousins). By Week 16, he averaged 300.2 passing yards in his previous six games.
Although the Broncos finished the season with a 9–7 record and missed the playoffs, Siemian compiled an 18-10 touchdown-to-interception ratio and an 84.6 passer rating. On both measures, Siemian significantly outperformed the Broncos' Peyton Manning-Brock Osweiler quarterback duo of 2015. On January 23, 2017, he was named as an alternate for the 2017 Pro Bowl, but declined the invitation due to recovery from left shoulder surgery two weeks prior.
Going into the 2017 season, Siemian had a new head coach in Vance Joseph. Siemian and the Broncos opened the season against the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football. Siemian completed 17-of-28 passes for 219 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception as well as his first career rushing touchdown. The Broncos took a 24–7 lead, but two costly turnovers helped the Chargers make the score 24–21. However, Broncos' defensive end Shelby Harris blocked the Chargers' attempt at a game-tying field goal from Younghoe Koo, securing the Broncos' win. The following week, Siemian and the Broncos hosted the Dallas Cowboys, led by 2016 Offensive Rookie of the Year Dak Prescott and 2016 leading rusher Ezekiel Elliott. The Broncos' defense shut down Dallas' offense and Siemian went 22-of-32 for 231 yards, a career-high-tying four touchdowns, and an interception as the Broncos blew out the Cowboys 42–17. For his performance, Siemian was voted the NFL's Clutch Performer of the week and the FedEx Air Player of the week.