Ex-Broncos QB Paxton Lynch football comeback cut short by brutal injury: ‘Didn’t want it to be like this’

Ex-Denver Broncos quarterback Paxton Lynch suffered a brutal injury during his latest football comeback attempt. This time, it was a torn ACL while he was playing for the Colorado Spartans of the National Arena League.

“I was pi--ed off,” Lynch told Luca Evans of the Denver Post. “And it sucks. I didn’t want it to be like this.”

Whether it was the NFL, other spring leagues or even arena football, Lynch just wanted to feel like himself again. The first round pick in 2016 out of Memphis flamed out of the NFL quickly and hasn’t found his footing since.

“I was like, ‘OK, if I play this year in arena football,’” Lynch said, “‘I’m going to play as Paxton Lynch. I’m going to have full confidence in myself. I don’t really care.’ And that’s what I did. . . . It felt good to do that again.”

Lynch played five career games for the Broncos, going 1-3 as a starter. He threw for 792 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions. That was in 2016 and ‘17 before latching onto the Seattle Seahawks’ practice squad in 2019 and being on the Pittsburgh Steelers roster that same year.

“I always knew who I was off the field,” Lynch told Evans. “But when it became Paxton Lynch the football player, and all these people had these different opinions about me — that’s when it was hard for me. . . . I was like . . . ‘You believe that you’re good. But you’re not playing good. And then all these people are saying you’re not good. So it’s like, ‘Are these people seeing something I’m not seeing?’ It was the constant battle in that.”

Lynch played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL in 2021 and then had spring stints with the Michigan Panthers (UFL), Orlando Guardians (XFL), San Antonio Brahmas (UFL) and now the Colorado Spartans (2026). If he is to continue his football career 10 years after it began professionally, it remains to be seen where he’ll go.

Lynch started three seasons at Memphis (2013-15). Over the course of that time, he threw for 8,863 yards, 59 touchdowns, 23 interceptions and a 62.9% completion percentage. He also ran for 687 yards and 17 touchdowns.

That led Lynch to the No. 26 overall pick by the Broncos in 2016. He was drafted behind Jared Goff (No. 1 to the LA Rams) and Carson Wentz (No. 2 to the Philadelphia Eagles).