Kelly bumped to backup as Broncos take Lynch down a peg
ENGLEWOOD, COLO. — Paxton Lynch inched closer to full-blown bust status Monday when he was demoted to third string after Chad Kelly’s solid debut in the Denver Broncos’ exhibition opener.
“Chad’s played well. He played well in the scrimmage. He played well Saturday night. So he deserves the chance to be the 2 right now,” coach Vance Joseph said.
Lynch was disappointed, Joseph said, “but he understands that it’s a performance business.”
“He has great potential, physical potential. But it’s got to equal performance eventually,” Joseph said. “He understands that. It’s a performance league. And everything we do, it’s graded and it’s counted.”
After a string of poor performances at training camp, Lynch was ineffective in seven series Saturday against Minnesota. The 2016 first-round choice completed 6 of 11 passes for 24 yards and an interception to go with a sack.
Kelly, who missed his rookie season last year while recovering from wrist and knee injuries, completed 14 of 21 passes for
177 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in Denver’s 42-28 loss to the Vikings.
Kelly thanked his teammates, saying they had just as much to do with his promotion.
“Those guys made the plays. They got me in the right protections and the guys with the ball in their hands made plays,” said Kelly, a nephew of Buffalo Bills quarterback great Jim Kelly.
When Case Keenum signed this spring and Trevor Siemian was subsequently traded to the Vikings, Broncos general manager John Elway said the No. 2 QB job was up for grabs.
Lynch, however, worked exclusively with the second-string offence until Monday, when they flip-flopped roles, leaving Lynch a sideline spectator during the two-minute drills, reflective of his new status.
The switch at QB is as much a reward for Kelly’s solid off-season as it is an indictment of Lynch, who hasn’t made the strides Joseph and Elway expected of him in Year 3 — especially without the pressure of having to vie for the starting job again.
“It’s really more about what Chad’s done, honestly,” Joseph said. “
Lynch was beaten out by Siemian, a seventh-round draft pick, in each of the last two summers and now has fallen behind another seventh-rounder in Kelly, who was the final pick — also known as Mr. Irrelevant — of the 2017 National Football League draft.
“You’ve just got to work hard. That’s what it is,” he said. “Even the best ones are still working hard. They don’t know everything. And obviously me being in my second year, I don’t know anything. So, I’ve got to work hard, I’ve got to watch more film than I ever have before. And when your time’s called, you’d better be able to step up and go.”