Panthers Broncos Football

Denver Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian (AP Photo/Matt York)

The Denver Broncos are no longer undefeated, but Trevor Siemian still is through four games.

Although, if things had turned out the way the second-year quarterback had hoped, he still would've had four games to play -- but then he would've lost his job back to Tom Brady.

Siemian is one of the underrated stories of the 2016 NFL season. A 2015 seventh-round pick out of Northwestern, he surprised many by winning the starting quarterback job for the Broncos this year, beating out Mark Sanchez and 2016 first-round pick Paxton Lynch for the opportunity to take over for Peyton Manning.

The Broncos won Siemian's first four starts this season. However, he was injured in Week 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and missed the Week 5 game against the Atlanta Falcons (a loss with Lynch taking over at QB).

Reports now have Siemian in line to return to the starting job when the Broncos take on the San Diego Chargers Thursday night, continuing his unlikely NFL ascension.

But during a college career that largely included him playing spot duty at quarterback, this wasn't exactly how Siemian pictured taking over for a future Hall of Fame quarterback.

Hayden Baker, Siemian's former roommate and backup center, told TheMMQB's Kalyn Kahler a story about how -- a year before Siemian was set to graduate and become a fringe draft prospect -- the quarterback was disappointed when the New England Patriots took Jimmy Garoppolo in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft.

The way Baker tells it, deep down, it seemed Siemian had hoped that he'd be the guy who'd end up as Brady's eventual successor.

From TheMMQB:

Either way, things have worked out pretty well for Siemian. He's yet to lose a game he's started in the NFL, and on his way back from injury. He's played well, too. Siemian is currently ranked 10th in the league in passer rating at 99.6.

If things had gone a certain way, maybe the Patriots would have waited a year to take a QB, and perhaps rolled the dice on Siemian late in the draft. If they'd taken him in the 6th round, there would've been some fun comparisons to make between him and Brady as late round QBs.

He also would've had four games to prove himself as a starter thanks to Brady's Deflategate suspension (assuming he'd won the backup job here). It would've been an eerily similar start. But going forward, Siemian has a very different road than if he'd been groomed as Brady's successor.

Siemian has the rough job of proving himself as an NFL starter while holding off the development of Lynch, who still has the pedigree of a first round pick. But all things considered, Siemian's had a heck of a story so far in the start of his NFL career -- even if there was a brief hope of a different outcome back in his college days.