As the Broncos are sliding further from contention in the AFC, 2017 first-round draft pick Paxton Lynch is inching closer to a return to the field. Lynch suffered a shoulder injury during the preseason and has been inactive in every regular season game this year.
He took a major step in that direction on Wednesday when he took second-team reps, leapfrogging Trevor Siemian and sliding behind Brock Osweiler who will start against Cincinnati on Sunday.
“We gave Paxton No. 2 reps today to kind of see where he’s at with his shoulder. He did fine. He threw the ball fine today,” head coach Vance Joseph said after practice.
On Monday Joseph said it was unclear whether Lynch would see action this season, and that he still had not progressed to making deep throws since returning to the practice field a few weeks ago. That changed on Wednesday.
“He threw a deep ball today. It looked good,” Joseph said.
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Not only did he look good, according to his coach, Lynch himself said he’s feeling good.
“I know that the training staff is monitoring and coaches are monitoring me, so I think they’re watching how I practice and throw the ball. Then they’re evaluating from there. I feel pretty good,” the second-year QB said.
Lynch has not dressed for a game yet this season, but says that he’s progressed to the point that he could play on Sunday behind Osweiler if needed.
“Obviously, if you ask me if I can play, I’m going to say yes. I would have said that right when I got hurt. But, I talked to the trainers and the coaches, and like I said, they’ve done a good job so far and I feel great. I’m just going to continue to leave it up to them,” Lynch said.
As for when that decision will be made, Joseph said it will come in a few days.
“End of the week,” the coach said. “We have a long week to go here. We want to get Brock back out there and see where he’s at and continue to monitor Paxton to see where we’re at on Friday or Saturday.”
