ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Trevor Siemian is the Denver Broncos starting quarterback. Some may be surprised by that, but let it be known Chris Harris Jr. tried to warn you.

In late May, the Broncos' Pro Bowl cornerback strolled off the practice field and dropped this little bit of foreshadowing: “Trevor has a maturity to him. He's kind of the sleeper, I would say. Of course Mark [Sanchez] and Paxton [Lynch] are going to be the headlines, but Trevor knows the offense. He's very comfortable and can throw the ball, too. We've also seen him make big plays in the preseason games under the lights. I wouldn't sleep on Trevor to win the job.’’

Well, hello Football America, because Siemian has won the job. Broncos coach Gary Kubiak made the announcement in a team meeting Monday morning that Siemian would start Sept. 8 against the Carolina Panthers.

A seventh-round pick in 2015, with a year-long apprenticeship under Peyton Manning to go with all of one December kneel-down, will succeed Manning as the Broncos’ quarterback.

There will be plenty of raised eyebrows and more than a few online journeys with Siemian’s name typed into the search engine to figure where he came from and how, exactly, he got to this point. The bottom line is he won the job and won it cleanly.

Kubiak consistently said he was looking “at a body of work’’ to decide on Siemian, Lynch or Sanchez. It wouldn’t be just one practice, one game, one week or even one month that determined the winner. It would be all of it.

It would be knowledge of the playbook, performance on the practice field, command in the huddle, the ability to keep calm in tight situations and Kubiak also even lumped in “the gut feel.’’ Siemian checked the boxes.

While many will question it, just think, for a moment, about who made the decision. A Hall of Fame quarterback calls the football shots for the Broncos in John Elway, and Kubiak played quarterback in the NFL for nine seasons and has invested roughly three decades of his life coaching quarterbacks.

They picked Siemian because of his power arm and level head. They picked Siemian because he played better and handled the competition better. If there has been a quiet criticism of Siemian, it has been that the team wanted to see a little more fire at times.

Siemian crossed that bridge, too, in recent weeks. Kubiak has consistently praised how Siemian managed the team in practice and in games. Kubiak has often said “he’s been around good players and Trevor knows how to handle himself.’’

His teammates have seen it all along: Siemian had an unshakable confidence that he could win the job, even as most believed it bordered on unthinkable.

After Saturday’s game he let a little of that show. Asked if he thought he would be named starter, Siemian said: “I feel confident. Ultimately it’s up to [Kubiak], it’s a better question for him.’’

Asked if he believed he had done enough to be the starter, Siemian said: “I do, but again that’s not my call. I’ll just try to be the best teammate I can be.’’

Turns out the kid was right.