Trevor Siemian will travel east to meet with the Jets about their backup job, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter). This meeting will occur Wednesday.
The Vikings are interested in keeping Siemian as their backup, but the first-time free agent has a few teams interested, Garafolo adds. The Jets have been connected to Siemian for a while now.
Siemian was on their radar a year ago, with the team connected to the then-Broncos quarterback via trade. New York had already re-signed Josh McCown and added Teddy Bridgewater, leading to Minnesota’s trade acquisition. In 2017, when some brief Tony Romo-to-Denver smoke surfaced, rumors of Jets-Siemian interested emerged. But Siemian returned as the Broncos’ 2017 starter.
Now that Siemian’s a free agent and McCown is considering retirement, the Jets are exploring this addition for a third straight offseason.
Siemian did not appear in a Vikings game last season; Kirk Cousins took every snap for Minnesota. Siemian, 27, fared better as the 2016 Broncos’ starter, with Peyton Manning‘s immediate successor leading the team to a 9-7 record and throwing 18 touchdown passes compared to 10 interceptions. In 2017, he rated as one of the NFL’s worst quarterbacks, prompting the Broncos to abandon their unusual experiment with the former seventh-round pick.
Should Siemian defect to the Jets or sign with another team, the Vikings are interested in recent Rams backup Sean Mannion, Garafolo adds. The Rams just added Blake Bortles to be Jared Goff‘s backup. Mannion, who has thrown 53 career passes, is a free agent.