Denver Broncos: 5 worst first-round picks in team history
1. Paxton Lynch, QB, 2016
This guy was bad, like really bad.
Despite putting up major numbers at Memphis in college, Paxton Lynch simply could not grasp the pro game or just didn’t have the work ethic to do so.
Following the retirement of Peyton Manning, the Broncos were looking for the next franchise quarterback and Lynch certainly looked the part at 6-foot-7. The Broncos even traded up to make sure they got this guy! That’s another reason he lands at No. 1.
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Lynch was given every opportunity by Denver. The team had him competing against the journeyman Mark Sanchez and a seventh-round pick in Trevor Siemian during his rookie year. He wasn’t quite ready to be the starter, which was fine. The Broncos went with Siemian.
But the next offseason, Siemian was in an open competition with Lynch again and it was Lynch’s job to win. Siemian was not overly impressive and just in watching preseason games, it wasn’t even a close competition.
It soon became clear that Lynch just wasn’t cut out to be an NFL quarterback and though both the Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers gave him a chance to continue his playing career, he was nothing more than a third or even fourth-string quarterback for those teams.
Lynch is now out of the league and likely knows his playing days are behind him. He sure fooled the Broncos brass in the draft process though.