Ranking every single QB the Broncos have drafted with a first-round pick
The Broncos have had a couple of the best quarterbacks in NFL history on their team, but they didn't draft either one of them.
The Denver Broncos are widely speculated to use their first-round pick in this year's NFL draft (currently the No. 12 overall selection) on a quarterback. Who that could be is wide open right now, but it is a player that Sean Payton and the front office are going to have to hit on as the team's history does not bode well in this department.
Here, you will be able to relive every quarterback the Broncos have drafted with a first-round pick as they will be ranked from worst to best. Of course, statistics will be one of the biggest measures of success here, but how they performed as a first-round pick in getting the team wins and losses will also be a factor. Also, this will only include the player's time in a Broncos uniform, not any other team they ended up playing for later in their career.
History will show that the Broncos will need to proceed with caution when it comes to names such as J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix. These picks will show that there is no sure thing even though there was a ton of excitement on the day each of these players was selected.
Ranking every single QB the Broncos have drafted with a first-round pick
4. Paxton Lynch, 2016 (No. 26 overall)
After winning Super Bowl 50, the Broncos still had a potential championship roster despite the retirement of the legendary Peyton Manning. They needed to find the quarterback of the future and many were convinced they had done that when they selected Paxton Lynch out of Memphis.
In fact, John Elway was so convinced of this pick that he gave the Seattle Seahawks a third-round pick in the 2016 draft just to swap first-round picks and move up five places in the order.
In a wide-open offense at Memphis, Lynch slung the ball around at will, completing 67 passes for 3,776 yards with 28 touchdowns and just four interceptions during his junior season. At 6-foot-7, he also had the kind of size that Elway seemed to covet.
It did not work out for Lynch in Denver, and that would be putting it extremely nicely.
Lynch never looked comfortable as a professional quarterback and was easily outclassed in the preseason during his time with the team by Trevor Siemian and even Kyle Sloter. The hope was that he could eventually settle in, but he never looked like he had a clue.
All the Broncos got out of this first-round pick was a total of four starts (where the team went 1-3), four touchdowns, four interceptions and 792 passing yards. That's all.
Lynch isn't just the worst on this list, I feel he is the worst draft pick in the history of the Denver Broncos.