Siemian Hustling to Get Up to Speed

For the first time in his NFL career, the veteran quarterback did not have a job until after the start of training camp.

NASHVILLE – Trevor Siemian is one-for-one.

His hope is that he is one-and-done.

The veteran quarterback did not know what to expect when he came to town last week to work out for Tennessee Titans coaches and executives. As such, he had no idea whether or not he had done enough to get a job.

“I don’t really know what these guys are looking at and what they’re evaluating,” Siemian said Sunday. “… You just come out and throw it around – routes on air – and do some quarterback drills.

“It was my first time going through it. Hopefully, I don’t have to go through many of those again.”

For now, there is no need.

The Titans saw enough of the 28-year-old (one of two quarterbacks they auditioned early last week) that they signed him and released rookie Cole McDonald, one of their seventh-round picks in this year’s draft.

Based on the fact that he has started 25 games in the NFL, the expectation is that Siemian will open the season as Ryan Tannehill’s backup. First, though, he has to get up to speed on the scheme and get familiar with his new teammates.

“I think this scheme – from watching clips of (Tannehill) and watching Logan [Woodside] play here – I would call it quarterback-friendly,” Siemian said. “So, [I am] trying to catch up, make up as much ground as I can.

“… For me, I’m just trying to understand terminology, so I know what the heck Ryan is doing when he’s in and what Logan’s doing when he’s in. So, I can kind of steal those reps, so to speak when I’m just standing back there at practice.”

This is the third time in as many years that Siemian has changed teams but the first time he had to wait this long. In 2018 he signed with Minnesota and in 2019 he went to the New York Jets.

Both years, he completed contract negotiations in the opening days of the free agent signing period. That meant he then had the benefit of a full offseason, training camp and preseason to settle into his surroundings. The same was true of his first three seasons, which he spent with Denver, the team that selected him in the seventh round of the 2015 NFL Draft.

Not only did he join the Titans after the start of training camp, he won’t have the benefit of preseason games, which were eliminated as part of the NFL’s current concessions to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This year is unique in that way where the reps in training camp and the preseason – you don’t get those reps, those live game reps,” Siemian said. “It’s not our job to really complain about it. That’s just how it is. We’ve got to make it work and find a way to make it work.”

Everything about this offseason has been different for him. But he did he needed when he got the opportunity – just as he did what he had to while he waited for some team to take a look at him.

“[I was] just trying to stay in shape the best I could,” Siemian said. “… A week and a half ago, I was throwing with my left guard from college in the park. So, I was just picking up my buddies where I could. I’d play catch. I was working out. Staying in shape.

“But that’s nothing compared to doing football stuff, football movements and being in a training camp practice.”

Finally, he is getting to do those things.