Jason Elam and Simon Fletcher where shoo-in’s for the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame, but does John Lynch deserve to be honored as one of the greatest Broncos of all time?
Lynch is a Hall of Famer, no doubt, but his best years and stats were in Tampa Bay with the Buccaneers, not with the Broncos.
Now, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a great Bronco. He was. Not only was he a leader on the field, but he was a leader in the community, and continues to be. But does being a great leader make a player great enough to be on the Ring of Fame?
Three-time Pro Bowl linebacker Chad Brown, a two-time All-Pro who played in the NFL from 1993-2007 (the exact same years as Lynch) joined Afternoon Drive to talk about Lynch’s induction into the Ring of Fame.
“His impacts on the defense here in Denver was not near the same that it was in Tampa Bay,” Brown said. “He is not a Ring of Famer just based solely on his Broncos time.”
Lynch spent four of his 15 seasons with the Broncos, earning a trip to the Pro Bowl in all four years, and started 59 of a possible 64 games. In that time, he grabbed three interceptions, had seven sacks and totaled 195 tackles.
And while those stats are great, and while Lynch was beloved in Denver while he was here (and since he left), he simply doesn’t have the resume to be remembered as one of the Broncos’ all-time legends.
Catch the rest of the conversation in the podcast below …
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