The Broncos picked quarterback Paxton Lynch in the first round of the 2016 draft and gave him a chance to win the starting quarterback job the last two years.
Lynch didn’t win the job either time and the Broncos signed Case Keenum as a free agent this offseason to end thoughts of another quarterback competition. For some, the move also ended thoughts that Lynch would be the starter in Denver at any point in the future but the team’s insisted that isn’t the case over the last couple of months.
On Saturday, coach Vance Joseph stayed on that theme and spun the lack of a chance at the starting job as a positive for Lynch.
“I think for Paxton and our football team it’s been a weight off all of our backs to have a starting quarterback and have everyone’s role defined from Day 1,” Joseph said. “So for Paxton, he can relax and get better each day and not worry about a competition. I think for Paxton being around Case also — I mean, Case has been through some ups and downs in his career, so he can learn from Case on how to handle those things. It takes time to be an NFL quarterback. You would hope with Case being here, he can sit back and relax and get better as a quarterback and not worry about being the guy right now and just compete to be our backup.”
There’s definitely something to learn from Keenum’s experience since entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent, but relaxing wouldn’t be part of the lesson given how little reason teams had to keep him around before he broke out last season. Being a first-round pick gives Lynch a different status even as his career trajectory has him moving in the wrong direction heading into his third year in Denver.