Paxton Lynch, Denver Broncos
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Paxton Lynch #12 of the Denver Broncos walks off the field after losing to the Atlanta Falcons.
The Denver Broncos decision to draft Bo Nix put an end to a carousel of quarterbacks that included fellow former first-round pick Paxton Lynch. Fittingly, Lynch is part of the reason that the carousel went on as long as it did.
He followed an NFL legend, a lofty task by any measure.
Now, Lynch is embracing the next chapter of his journey. It has taken him away from the NFL, but not the game of football.
Paxton Lynch Wanted to be Like Tom Brady
Paxton Lynch
GettyPaxton Lynch #2 of the Seattle Seahawks throws the ball during the second half of the preseason game against the Denver Broncos.
Eight years after he last played for the Broncos, Lynch hoped to “play until I’m 45,” per The Denver Post’s Luca Evans on April 11. He wanted to be “like I’m Tom Brady.”
He joined the Colorado Spartans of the National Arena League in March. Unfortunately for Lynch, a torn ACL has already ended his season two-plus games into it, before he was able to play in front of the home crowd.
“I was pissed off,” Lynch said, per Evans. “And it sucks. I didn’t want it to be like this.”
Lynch remains uncertain about playing in 2027, but told Evans about his experience battling with confidence leading up to and following his release from the Broncos.
The Broncos selected Lynch with the 26th overall pick of the 2016 draft. He would only last two seasons in Denver, released two years later ahead of the 2018 season. Lynch had started four of the five games that he played in.
He has had multiple tryouts and even deals with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks.
However, Lynch has not suited up in a regular-season game since. He has been out of the NFL since just before the 2020 season.
Paxton Lynch Admits Battling Self-Doubt
Paxton Lynch
GettyPaxton Lynch #12 of the Denver Broncos looks on from the sidelines in the second half against the Washington Redskins.
“Lynch told himself he had to fight to change his mindset,” Evans wrote, adding, “He mostly lost” after short stints with Pittsburgh and Seattle. “He went to the CFL, the USFL, and the XFL and searched for nearly a decade to recapture the feeling he’d first brought to Denver as a young 22-year-old man before the doubt crept in.”
Lynch was “excited” to play in front of Denver fans for the first time since his Broncos days. He still intends to attend games during the season while working to overcome the latest hurdle in his playing career.
Lynch was expected to follow up Peyton Manning, who led the Broncos to a Super Bowl in his final season (2015). The organization was run at the time by two-time Super Bowl champion John Elway.
He was unable to overcome career backup passers for the starting job and even players who were out of the league before him for the Broncos’ QB2 job.
That led him to embrace life off the field but still be involved with the game.
“I was kind of getting some opportunities to coach in some places. So, that’s what I thought I was about to start going down that road. And I thought about it, I was like, ‘Well, do you’–asking myself–‘do you really want to play arena football?’” Lynch told 9News’ Scotty Grange on April 10. “I was like, ‘Who cares?’ I’m saying, ‘I love the game, my kids want to see me play, and there’s people who still want to see me play.’ So, I’m like, ‘I’m gonna do it for people like that.’”
Paxton Lynch Gets Honest About Failed Broncos Tenure
Paxton Lynch
Dustin Bradford/Getty ImagesPaxton Lynch #12 of the Denver Broncos warms up before a game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Lynch said he feels “like I’ve lived freaking five lifetimes since” his time with the Broncos, and that it is “hard to just pinpoint one thing” about what went wrong.
He noted that some careers pan out, while others don’t, and that every situation is “different.”
“Some people get put in a situation, and they flourish. Some people get put in a certain situation, and they don’t,” Lynch told Grange. “You don’t know what you don’t know when you get into those new situations, environments. So, there’s certainly things I could have done better, too.”
Lynch said he “put so much pressure on myself to be a perfect person and do everything right. And I feel like I didn’t give myself opportunity for room for growth.”