AP

Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian will make the first regular season start of his NFL career on Thursday night and presumably will throw his first regular season passes in the process.

Should enough of those passes land incomplete or in the arms of Panthers defenders, some will surely begin to wonder when the Broncos will deem first-round pick Paxton Lynch ready to take over the job. General Manager John Elway doesn’t want Siemian to be one of the people wondering about that and did his best to quash anyone else from boarding that train.

“Trevor is the guy,” Elway said, via ESPN.com. “We have a lot of confidence in Trevor and believe that he can do the job. It’s Trevor’s job, but he’s not going to be looking over his shoulder. He’s got a lot of support. Trevor earned the job. I’m excited about it. I’m excited to see him play and I think we’re in good shape there.”

There are a select group of NFL players who don’t have to look over their shoulders or worry about their spots in the lineup, but, as guard Josh Sitton’s departure from Green Bay illustrates, the vast majority don’t have that level of comfort. The Broncos didn’t go with Siemian in order to yank him at the first sign of trouble, but the presence of a highly drafted quarterback on the depth chart likely means any extended struggles will be met with questions about when Lynch will take the next step up the ladder.