Paxton Lynch throws shade at Denver ahead of Broncos vs. Seahawks preseason matchup

Oh, what could have been with Paxton Lynch.

Broncos fans will never know. After spending less than three seasons with the team, the Denver Broncos waived their 2016 first-round pick at the final roster cut-downs ahead of the 2018 season.

Lynch spent the entirety of the 2018 regular season as a spectator, though there were a few NFL teams who sniffed around the 6-foot-7 quarterback. He had to wait until January to sign with his next team, with the Seattle Seahawks adding him not long before the NFL Combine.

The Seahawks apparently see some potential in him, and even head coach Pete Carroll defended the free-agent signing from the podium at Combine. As it stands, Lynch is Seattle's No. 2 QB behind Russell Wilson.

With Wilson dismissed from practice to attend to a family matter, Lynch received some additional reps. After Monday's practice, the Seahawks put Lynch in front of the media, where he promptly chose to lob a passive-aggressive shade-bomb Denver's way.

“It feels closer, feels like a family," Lynch said. "I bring my fiance out here, I bring my dad out here. And they even say it, too. They feel so much more welcome around everybody. They’re so good to them. They treat them so good. They treat the players good. It feels like part of a family. It feels like everybody is close.”

Perhaps the Lynch family's increased comfortability around the Seahawks organization has a little something to do with the fact that the pressure surrounding Paxton has significantly been deflated since he was cut by the Broncos. Let's recount.

After Denver traded up to grab Lynch with the No. 26 overall pick in 2016, he went on to lose out in an open competition with Trevor Siemian for the starting job. Lynch was pressed into action three times as a rookie — once on the road in Tampa, again in a home start the next week vs. Atlanta, and again in Week 12 at Jacksonville.

He finished the year 1-1 as a starter in relief of Siemian. It's worth mentioning, in all fairness to Lynch, that while his win at Jacksonville was lackluster QB play, it was his first career road start and he came away victorious.

In 2017, once again, it was Team Paxton vs. Team Trevor, as Lynch was pitted against his nemesis in another competition. Siemian vanquished him again — easily. But again, it's worth mentioning, Lynch suffered a significant shoulder injury in the Broncos' third preseason game, which would have precluded him from starting at any point during the first quarter of the season.

Still, by then, Siemian had already beaten him out. Lynch didn't see the field again until he was pressed into action in Week 12 at Oakland, after both Siemian and the recently re-signed Brock Osweiler had presided over an six-game losing streak.

The Broncos were hopeful that the now healed up Lynch could come through in his third career start, provide the team with some indication that his first-round pedigree was legit and give the failed 2017 campaign a semblance of hope for the future.

Alas, after throwing a red zone interception, Lynch suffered a lower-leg injury that didn't appear to be serious and could be seen later on the bench openly weeping — in the Black Hole. That's when the starkest of doubts began to set in for the Broncos that the team's 2016 first-round investment might be a bust.

The team gave Lynch one last-ditch effort to start and show signs of life in the season finale vs. Kansas City. But Patrick Mahomes, in his first career start, outshined him big time, defeating Lynch at home to perfectly punctuate a horrendous 5-11 season for the Broncos.

Fast forward to Lynch's third training camp, and Trevor Siemian is mercifully gone. But in his place was the (slightly) more proven Case Keenum, who'd already been anointed by the Broncos as the unquestioned starter.

Lynch's competition last summer was between him and Chad Kelly — for the backup job— in his third year as a pro, which is when he should have by all rights been turning a corner. After literally the first preseason game vs. Minnesota, wherein Kelly shined and Lynch floundered, the Broncos officially demoted Lynch. Kelly would be the No. 2.

It was curtains for Lynch at that point. The Broncos waived him a few short weeks later and the rest is history.

Don't absolve the Broncos of blame with Lynch

In a modest defense of Paxton Lynch, I'll say this. The Broncos absolutely did not handle his early development the right way. After a passive-aggressive struggle between John Elway and Gary Kubiak, in which Elway wanted Lynch to play and Kubiak (who never wanted Lynch to begin with), sand-bagged for Siemian all the way.

From year two on, though, with Kubiak having stepped down, the Broncos should never have pitted Lynch against Siemian in another farcical 'open competition'. At that point, the team should have committed to Lynch absolutely, sending the message to the players and coaches that it was time to close ranks and rally around Lynch.

However, with the strain of wanting to win under first-time (and over-matched) head coach Vance Joseph, the Broncos' brass caved to the pressure of tapping the QB that gave them the best chance to succeed in the present, forsaking their possible future with Lynch.

That should never have been allowed to happen, but still just two years removed from winning Super Bowl 50 with a severely diminished Peyton Manning, Elway had convinced himself that the Broncos were one middle-of-the-road QB away from winning it all, because that once championship-caliber defense was mostly still in tact.

It was a completely botched management of a first-round QB, though Lynch did little to advocate for his own cause through his play on the field. Such a recent debacle in the development of a high-round QB has given rise to serious doubts in the media that Elway and company have the wherewithal to competently steward Drew Lock — the team's 2019 second-round pick.

There are two reasons for optimism that Lock's story and trajectory will be markedly different than Lynch's. One, you would hope that Elway has learned from recent history when it comes to the do's and don't's of developing a young QB.

Two, Joseph is gone and in his place is the significantly more savvy and insightful Vic Fangio. If the Broncos take it slow with Lock in his rookie year, which is exactly what he needs, then the team would be wise to commit 100% to him in 2020, barring an MVP-caliber performance from Joe Flacco in 2019 (which we can safely assume isn't going to happen).

Elway and Fangio have to be ready and willing to burn the Flacco boats and move forward with Lock in 2020 come hell or high water. That's what the Kansas City Chiefs did with the Alex Smith/Patrick Mahomes situation and it paid massive dividends.

But I digress.

The bottom line is, Paxton Lynch will get a chance to execute some modest revenge in this week's preseason game. But his old teammates will have a say in whether Lynch's gets to serve it up cold, or get shown up in front of his new team.

The Broncos will travel to take on the Seahawks on Thursday. The game kicks off at 8 pm MST.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.