Paxton James Lynch (born February 12, 1994) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Michigan Panthers The Michigan Panthers were a professional American football team based in the Detroit, Michigan area. The Panthers competed in the United States Football League (USFL) as a member of the Western Conference and Central Division. The team played i ...

of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

, and was drafted in the first round of the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. Lynch played just two seasons in Denver and made four starts before being released prior to the 2018 season. Lynch has also been a member of the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

and

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

Early years

Lynch attended Trinity Christian Academy in

Deltona, Florida Deltona is a city in central Florida and the most populous city in Volusia County. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Monroe along the St. Johns River in central Florida. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 93,692. The city ...

, where he played football and basketball. During his

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

career, he passed for 2,099 yards. Lynch was rated by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

as a three-star recruit. He committed to the

to play

College career

After redshirting for his freshman year at Memphis in 2012, Lynch was named the Tigers' starting quarterback prior to the 2013 season. He started all 12 games, completing 203 of 349 passes for 2,056 yards, nine

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

and 10

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

. As a sophomore in 2014, Lynch started all 13 games. He completed 259 of 413 attempts for 3,031 yards, 22 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. He also rushed for 321 yards and 13 touchdowns. Lynch was named the MVP of the 2014 Miami Beach Bowl after passing for 306 yards with four passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns. As a junior in 2015, Lynch again started all 13 games. He completed 296 of 443 passes (66.8%) for 3,778 yards, 28 touchdowns (all five school records) and four interceptions. In Memphis' 63–0 victory over SMU, Lynch tied an FBS record with seven passing touchdowns in a half. He finished 9 of 14 for 222 yards, and completed his touchdown throws to seven different receivers. After the season, he decided to forgo his senior year and enter the

. Lynch graduated from Memphis in May 2016 with a B.S.E. in sport and leisure management. Lynch's 35 touchdowns responsible for in 2014 and 30 in 2015 are first and second in Memphis history, and his 76 for his career is second all-time. He also ranks first and second for most total offense in a season (4,015 yards in 2015; 3,352 in 2014). He has four of the seven most passing yards in a game, including the school record 447 on October 23, 2015, at

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. He ranks second all-time in career attempts, completions, completion percentage, passing yards, and passing touchdowns.

College statistics

Professional career

Lynch was predicted to be selected in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft by draft analysts and in mock drafts prior to the draft. He was rated the third best quarterback in the 2016 draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

Denver Broncos

2016

The

selected Lynch in the first round (26th overall) of the

in a pick acquired from the

for their first and third round pick. He was the third of 15 quarterbacks taken, behind

Jared Goff Jared Thomas Goff (born October 14, 1994) is an American football quarterback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at California, where he set the Pac-12 Conference season records for passing ...

and

Carson Wentz Carson James Wentz (born December 30, 1992) is an American football quarterback for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). Wentz played college football at North Dakota State, where he won two consecutive NCAA FCS nat ...

, the #1 and #2 overall picks. On June 9, 2016, the Broncos signed Lynch to a four-year, $9,476,296 contract with a $5,091,852 signing bonus. On October 2, 2016, Lynch played in his first NFL regular-season game against the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

, replacing the injured

Trevor Siemian Trevor John Siemian (born December 26, 1991) is an American football quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Northwestern and was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the seventh round ...

. He finished with 170 passing yards on 14 of 24 attempts and threw his first career touchdown pass to wide receiver

Emmanuel Sanders Emmanuel Niamiah Sanders (born March 17, 1987) is a former American football wide receiver who played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at SMU, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third ...

in a 27–7 road win at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida that opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football program. The se ...

. In Week 5, Lynch started his first NFL game, completing 23 of 35 passes for 223 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in the 23–16 loss to the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

. He was sacked six times, a record for a Broncos rookie. In Week 13, Lynch again replaced the injured Siemian against the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

, posting 12 completions on 24 passing attempts for 104 yards in a 20–10 win. Overall, he finished his rookie season with 497 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and one interception.

2017

Lynch suffered a shoulder injury against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in the team's third preseason game of the 2017 season. In Week 11 against the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

, Lynch was active for the first time that season and was the backup to

Brock Osweiler Brock Alan Osweiler (born November 22, 1990) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at Arizona State and was selected by the Denver Broncos in the s ...

. On November 21, Lynch was named the team's starter for the Week 12 game against the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

. Lynch completed 9 of 14 passes for 41 yards and an interception that occurred in the endzone, the Raiders' first interception of the season. Lynch left the game with an ankle injury in the third quarter and was relieved by Siemian for the remainder of the game as the Broncos lost 21–14. A day after the game, it was announced that Lynch would miss two to four weeks due to his injury. On December 31, Lynch started the regular season finale against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

. In the 27–24 loss, he finished 21 of 31 for 254 passing yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.

2018

Going into mini-camps for the 2018 season, it was announced that Lynch would serve as backup quarterback, behind the newly acquired

Case Keenum Casey Austin Keenum (born February 17, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Houston, where he became the NCAA's all-time leader in total passing ...

. Two days after the Broncos preseason opener against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

, the team announced that Lynch had been demoted to third-string quarterback as Chad Kelly was promoted to backup. He was released by the Broncos on September 2, 2018, after the team acquired

Kevin Hogan Kevin Michael Hogan (born October 20, 1992) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football for Stanford University and was their starting quarterback from 2012 to 2015. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chie ...

. In two seasons with the team, Lynch made just four starts and threw four touchdowns and four interceptions.

Seattle Seahawks

On January 17, 2019, Lynch signed with the

after spending the 2018 season as a free agent. He was waived on August 30, 2019, during final roster cuts.

Pittsburgh Steelers

On September 17, 2019, Lynch was signed to the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

. He was promoted to the active roster on October 11, 2019, following an injury to Mason Rudolph. On September 5, 2020, Lynch was waived by the Steelers during final roster cuts.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

On June 28, 2021, it was announced that Lynch had signed with the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL). He did not dress for games during the season as he was the third string quarterback and spent most of the time on the one-game injured list. He was released on February 22, 2022.

Michigan Panthers

On February 22, 2022, Lynch signed with the

and was selected with the eighth pick of the 12th round of the

2022 USFL Draft The 2022 USFL Draft, also known as the 2022 USFL Player Selection Meeting, was the player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams for the 2022 USFL season. The draft was held on February 22–23, 2022, with results released throug ...

by the

. Lynch was the last of 16 quarterbacks taken in the draft and the only one to have started an NFL regular season game before being drafted. He was transferred to the inactive roster on May 5, 2022, with a leg injury.

Career statistics

References

External links

Denver Broncos bioMemphis Tigers bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Paxton 1994 births Living people American football quarterbacks Denver Broncos players Memphis Tigers football players People from Deltona, Florida Pittsburgh Steelers players Players of American football from Florida Players of Canadian football from Florida Players of American football from San Antonio Players of Canadian football from San Antonio Saskatchewan Roughriders players Seattle Seahawks players Michigan Panthers (2022) players