With the 2016 NFL Draft in the books, Sports Illustrated covers shot, new gear fitted and the vets on their way out of town for a weekend getaway, the Broncos’ rookies are ready for a weekend of work at The UC Health Training Center. There’s not a lot to be learned from the first weekend of being a professional football player, but one thing was very obvious: Paxton Lynch, Justin Simmons and Connor McGovern are ecstatic to be Broncos!
First up Friday afternoon was the weight room king, Connor McGovern:
“It’s something special, you know? Putting on the jersey, the clothes, the hats, anything with a Broncos logo.”
The excitement from all three rookies was very cool to see. Let’s not forget that these are young men landing their dream job, and it was a great moment watching each of them walk out and realize that they are officially NFL football players.
Third round pick Justin Simmons also spoke Friday afternoon and echoed McGovern’s statements about what it feels like to be with the Broncos organization:
“It’s the winning tradition; it’s carrying yourself with class, high character and most importantly, I think coach Kubiak hit this hard: carry yourself as a professional.”
Using a third-round pick on a player like Justin Simmons was a great choice for Elway and the Broncos. Darian Stewart, who was one of the unsung heroes of that dominant defense last season, will be a free agent at the end of the 2016-17 season. A guy like Simmons — who is athletic, quick and can lay the wood when he needs to — sitting behind a couple of perennial Pro Bowlers will pay off sooner rather than later.
Last but certainly not least, was the 26th-overall pick in the draft, Paxton Lynch. Now I mentioned above that you could see the excitement on these young fellas, but none more than Lynch. The young man was genuinely grateful and honored to be in the position he is in. There’s a reason us in the media enjoy talking to rookies and young players: They still enjoy talking to us!
You could see that in Lynch, and you could hear that in his answers — just a young man that landed his dream job and still pinches himself daily to see if it’s real.
When it comes to his first day, Paxton said it was a lot to take in:
“It’s a whole new offense; it’s an NFL offense, so there is going to be struggles for everybody, but I felt like I knew what was going on. I just don’t think I was picking it up as fast as I should have.”
Don’t freak out, Broncos Country. It’s ok for him to be honest with us. Again he’s a rookie. The whole honesty with us media folk wont last forever. He was a first-round pick, but that does not mean he has to make an impact on the team anytime soon. In fact — I can’t believe I am going to say this — Mark Sanchez handling things until Paxton is ready is not the worst plan in the world.
Brian Hoyer having that responsibility is a very bad plan — dodged a bullet there!
When asked about John Elway’s comments regarding him being ready a lot sooner than some people think, Lynch responded with:
“I was pretty confident in myself being ready pretty quickly. Like I said when I got drafted, I have been in this offense before, my freshman year at Memphis, I have played under center; I have done all that.”
We’re not going to learn a lot about these young players this weekend, but my first interaction with Connor McGovern, Justin Simmons and Paxton Lynch was a good one. It’s refreshing to see young athletes really enjoy the process.
