John Lynch and the Broncos weren’t getting along in early March.
After temporarily reconciling their differences, the team and veteran safety realized they weren’t right for each in late July, either.
The result is the Broncos have lost another team leader from their defense.
After 15 NFL seasons and nine Pro Bowl selections, Lynch left the team’s training camp Tuesday after asking for his release in hopes of playing elsewhere, according to three NFL sources. Broncos coach Mike Shanahan allowed Lynch the chance to explore other options, including retirement.
After the Broncos’ workout on Wednesday, Shanahan said only that Lynch “was excused for personal reasons.” Many players were then excused after the morning workout to join Lynch at a local establishment for a sendoff.
Lynch will meet with the Denver media today at Dove Valley.
Lynch is the third vocal leader the Broncos have lost in the past year. The team released middle linebacker Al Wilson because of health concerns before last season, and wide receiver Rod Smith retired last week.
The Broncos have only two full-
time defensive starters from their 2005 team that went 13-3 and reached the AFC championship game — cornerback Champ Bailey and outside linebacker D.J. Williams.
Although Shanahan gave Lynch the option of staying with the Broncos and competing for the starting position he held the past four years, the coach will grant the safety’s wish and release him today.
At this point, it would be a surprise if Lynch found another place to play. He turns 37 on Sept. 25, and most teams already have set their secondary.
Lynch first considered retirement after the 2007 season, his fourth with the Broncos. He then decided to play one more year, but nearly left for free agency after the Broncos offered a 33 percent pay cut from $3 million in 2008 to $2 million.
But personal talks with owner Pat Bowlen and Shanahan, and a desire not to uproot his wife and four children from the Denver area, convinced Lynch to return. He re-signed with the Broncos on March 1.
One week later, the Broncos signed free-agent safeties Marlon McCree, who started the past two years with rival San Diego, and Marquand Manuel, who started 29 games in three previous seasons with Seattle, Green Bay and Carolina.
Clearly, Lynch wasn’t going to be handed his starting position without competing for it. The other safety spot belonged to Hamza Abdullah, a fourth-
year player whom Lynch often provided veteran counsel in three previous seasons.
“John is my mentor,” Abdullah said this week. “Of course he’s the best safety I’ve ever played with, but he’s also going down as one of the best safeties in league history. When I came off the field, he’s always the first one to talk to me. ‘Hamza, you did this right, you did this wrong.’ He grades me hard. His standards for me are almost as high as I put on myself. For a guy to invest that much in me, I love that about John.”
Mentoring, however, carries only so much satisfaction for Lynch. Just how much his playing time was going to be cut, however, didn’t become evident until training camp. Lynch had been playing with the No. 1 base defense, but he was replaced by McCree in nickel situations.
Given the passing nature of the NFL, defenses generally employ their nickel packages for half the snaps. During the team’s morning workout Tuesday, the Broncos sprinkled in McCree for a couple of reps on the first-team base defense.
It appears the Broncos want Abdullah to fill Lynch’s role as the eighth man in the eight-
man box and allow McCree to play as the deep safety.
Lynch, a former Stanford pitcher and safety, was a second-round draft pick of the Florida Marlins in 1992. He returned to Stanford for his senior year of football, however, and was drafted by Tampa Bay in 1993. He played 11 seasons for the Bucs, helping them win the Super Bowl in the 2002 season. He signed with the Broncos before the 2004 season and was selected to the Pro Bowl each of his four years in Denver.
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
