No. 3 – John Lynch
Draft: 1993 (82nd overall, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Broncos career: 2004-07 (60 games)
Pro Bowls: Nine (1997, ’99, 2000, ’01, ’02, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07)
Super Bowl: XXXVII (with Tampa Bay)
Lynch might be higher on the list of greatest safeties of all time – but he played only four of his 15 seasons in Denver – landing him at number three.
These days, Lynch is better known as the Fox Sports analyst with the kind face and good-natured smile, but during his days as a player, he was anything but nice.
Lynch’s hard-hitting style of play earned him a trip to nine Pro Bowls – including all four years he played in a Broncos uniform. Lynch’s list of accomplishments and accolades reads like a statistic book, but what is more impressive is the mark he left on the Mile High city.
In his four short years, Lynch stole the hearts of Broncos fans and will be inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame this year.
On Sundays in Broncos Country you can still see number 47 jerseys strolling about with pride. He was a fierce competitor on the field and a class act off of it.
He was the Walter Payton Award recipient in 2002, and though he did not make the Hall of Fame in 2016, it will only be a matter of time before he is enshrined in Canton.
