Discarded by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2004 offseason, John Lynch had four immediate options: New England, San Diego, the New York Jets and the Broncos.
The Jets were led by Herm Edwards, his former position coach with the Buccaneers. Enticing. The Chargers were Lynch’s hometown team. Intriguing. The Patriots were in the midst of their first dynasty. Alluring. And the Broncos … were mostly unknown to Lynch and his family.
“Make this decision for the right reasons in terms of football,” Lynch’s wife, Linda, told him. “Send us to Siberia and we’ll be all right as long as we’re together. We’re going to be happy.”
Lynch chose the Broncos for football reasons — coach Mike Shanahan’s presence, the defensive scheme and the chance to win — and remains happy about it years later. He made the Pro Bowl after all four years with the Broncos, the final stamp on a career that will peak Sunday night when he is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“They made me feel wanted and at the time, I liked where the team was and the opportunity to compete in a place that I thought would be tremendous to raise our kids and we had a young, budding family,” Lynch said during a phone interview with The Denver Post. “All those things came true.”
The Broncos competed (three playoff berths in four years) and the Denver area connected to the Lynch family to the degree they lived in Cherry Hills for several years after Lynch’s retirement.
Lynch, now the San Francisco 49ers’ general manager, will be the eighth player with a significant tie to the Broncos to reach Canton, including safety Steve Atwater (inducted Saturday) and quarterback Peyton Manning (inducted Sunday with Lynch among the Class of 2021).
Part of winning teams
When Lynch was on the field, his teams played great defense. From 1996-03, his span as a starter for Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers finished in the top eight for fewest points allowed each year. In his first three years with the Broncos, the units finished ninth, third and eighth in fewest points; they plummeted to 28th in 2007.
Lynch, now 49, finished his career with 1,059 tackles, 26 interceptions, 13 sacks, nine Pro Bowl appearances, two first-team All Pro selections and one Super Bowl (2002 with Tampa Bay). He is in both the Buccaneers and Broncos Ring of Fames.
“John was as good as any safety I ever played against,” Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders told the Buccaneers’ website. “He reminded me a lot of guys like Ronnie Lott and Steve Atwater. He was a terrific player, a great defender — a fierce defender. He could knock the snot out of you.”
Lynch was a part of coach Tony Dungy and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin’s defense, a physical (listed at 6-foot-2/220 pounds) defender who could thump the ball carrier, cover and track the football downfield.
Dungy and Kiffin are just two of the many championship coaches Lynch played for, starting with Bill Walsh (Stanford), Dungy and Jon Gruden (Tampa Bay), and Shanahan.
Lynch’s NFL prospects took off in his only year playing for Walsh.
“Unbelievable,” Lynch said. “He was a huge believer in me and what I could do, not only at Stanford but onto the NFL. I wouldn’t be (in the Hall of Fame) without him. He was so dynamic and he ran a football team like a Fortune 500 company. It was poetry in motion. … At the end of the year, we felt as a team we could have played with anyone in the country. What an experience to get to play for him.”
A third-round pick by Tampa Bay in 1994, Lynch played three years for coach Sam Wyche. Mired in a 14-year playoff drought, the Buccaneers hired Dungy, then Minnesota’s defensive coordinator, to replace Wyche.
Everything changed for the organization and everything changed for Lynch, who had started only nine games in three seasons.
“Tony was so impactful,” Lynch said. “A Hall of Fame coach and Hall of Fame human being. He was an unbelievable mentor that kind of showed you the example of, you could do it at the highest level in our league and also be a top-flight husband and father. Very grateful.”
The Buccaneers transitioned to younger players after the 2004 offseason. Lynch, 32, offered to re-structure his contract, but general manager Bruce Allen declined.
It was time to move to Denver.
“Great four years”
Lynch was playing with his young kids in the Hawaii sand after a Pro Bowl when Shanahan approached to say hello. That conversation proved to be valuable when Lynch was released by the Buccaneers.
Part of Shanahan’s recruiting pitch was his objective of building a Broncos defense that had schematic similarities to the Buccaneers. But Lynch said he was used a “little differently.”
“I probably rushed the quarterback more in Denver,” he said. “I blitzed a lot in Tampa, but it was more on run downs. (With the Broncos), we did some different things in terms of overwhelming the offense with all-out blitzes, probably because we weren’t built like we were in Tampa with defensive linemen coming out of our ears. We had to generate and manufacture pass rush so we got creative.”
In March 2004, the Broncos overhauled their secondary by acquiring cornerback Champ Bailey from Washington and signing Lynch. Bailey was a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee in 2019.
The 2005 season represented Lynch’s last best chance to win a second championship. The Broncos went 13-3 and handed New England quarterback Tom Brady his first postseason loss in the AFC Divisional Round.
“I had never felt the new stadium rocking until (Bailey’s 100-yard interception return) and man, that place was so electric,” Lynch said.
In the AFC title game, the Broncos hosted Pittsburgh and lost 34-17; the Steelers went on to beat Seattle in the Super Bowl. Fifteen-plus years later, the loss still sticks with Lynch.
“I thought we were on our way,” he said. “I remember the disappointment when Pittsburgh came into town. Certain ones stick with you and that’s one that got away. The Steelers came in, got hot and we couldn’t quite pull it off.”
Lynch departed the Broncos during the 2008 preseason, but lived in the area until his family moved back to San Diego when his mother-in-law became ill.
“We absolutely loved Denver,” he said. “We still have so many friends there.”
Many friends and many memories even though his Broncos career was relatively brief.
“I had four great years there,” Lynch said. “I am very grateful to Mr. (Pat) Bowlen, the entire Bowlen family and to Mike for making Denver such a great landing spot after 11 years in Tampa.”
