Former Broncos quarterback Paxton Lynch seems to be a little disgruntled about his time in Denver. The former first-round pick spoke about being cut by the Broncos during an interview in December.
“I’m sure it was [Elway’s] decision at the end of the day,” Lynch told The Athletic’s Ed Bouchette [subscription required for link]. “He told me he didn’t think it was really fair the way the media treated me there. I was like, ‘Yeah, you really haven’t given me an opportunity to show them otherwise.’”
Elway has made his fair share of blunders as the Broncos’ general manager but to say he didn’t give Lynch a fair shot might be an exaggeration. Lynch started five games in Denver and didn’t look too impressive in any of them.
Then, after being cut by the Broncos, Lynch went unsigned for the entire 2018 season. Elway wasn’t the only league executive unimpressed with the QB. Last summer, Lynch failed to beat out Geno Smith for the Seahawks’ backup job. Then he landed with the Steelers but wasn’t able to beat out Devlin Hodges or Mason Rudolph for playing time after Ben Roethlisberger suffered a season-ending injury.
Again: Lynch wasn’t able to beat out Hodges, an undrafted rookie. That brings back memories of when Lynch failed to beat out an undrafted Trevor Siemian in 2016. Maybe Denver wasn’t unfair with Lynch — perhaps Lynch just isn’t good enough?
Lynch seems to have a beef with Elway but he should probably have a beef with the entire NFL. No team views him as a starter-caliber QB.
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