Denver Broncos General Manager John Elway spoke to the media on Saturday night after the team announced their roster moves and their 53-man roster. The big question everyone wanted to know was why the Broncos kept former first-round pick, Paxton Lynch. Elway answered these questions but his answer shouldn’t make Paxton Lynch very comfortable.
Elway, on keeping Lynch: “Every decision we make, we try to make the best decision right now. Sitting right now at QB with who knows our system … I thought at this point in time, that’s the best decision for us."
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) September 1, 2018
If you listened to Elway’s answer as to why the Broncos kept Paxton Lynch, it wasn’t a ringing endorsement for his former first-round pick. He basically said the only reason Lynch was not cut yesterday was because that Chad Kelly is an inexperienced backup and they want some experience behind Keenum.
“Number one, every decision we make we try to make [one] that is the best position for the Broncos. Sitting right now with where we are at quarterback and who knows our system, where going into the first game with Paxton being our third quarterback—I thought at this point in time, that’s the best decision for us. Paxton continued to improve, but he is the third-string quarterback. That decision was made because, looking at the situation and with [QB] Chad [Kelly] not having a lot of experience and not having played in a regular-season game before, we thought that we had to go with three quarterbacks and Paxton was our third.”
Again, I read this as the only reason Paxton Lynch is here is that it is convenient. He has some starting experience, can serve as the “experienced backup’ and he knows the playbook.
The most damning part for Lynch was Elway’s admittance that they have talked to some veteran quarterbacks and tried to bring them in. However, Elway stated the ones that they’re interested in wanted to wait before signing.
“Yeah, but the veteran quarterbacks didn’t want to come in right now. We’ve talked to several and had discussions there, but they all want to wait—the one’s we were interested in.”
If you read between the lines, it doesn’t bode well for Lynch. It sounds like they tried moving on but couldn’t get anything moving so decided to stick with Lynch out of convenience.
Is it possible Lynch sticks as the number three? Sure. However, I wouldn’t be shocked if we saw some movement here either later today after waiver additions were announced or later in the year.
So what do you think MHR? Did you get a similar vibe or do you think Lynch’s spot is safe going forward?