Chad Kelly was the quarterback throwing to Broncos’ rookie pass-catchers during Saturday’s workout, after the 2017 seventh-round pick spent last season on injured reserve due to wrist surgery. But coach Vance Joseph also spoke about the mentality of former first-round signal-caller Paxton Lynch, who will compete with Kelly for the backup job after Denver signed Case Keenum during offseason to be the team’s starter.
“For Paxton and our football team, itap been a weight off all of our backs to have a starting quarterback and have everyone’s roles defined from Day 1,” Joseph said. “ … It takes time to be an NFL quarterback. You would hope, with Case being here, (Lynch) can sit back and relax and not worry about being ‘the guy’ right now and just compete to be our backup.”
Joseph added he hopes Lynch can learn from Keenum, an undrafted NFL journeyman before a breakout 2017 season with Minnesota. Keenum completed 67.6 percent of his throws for 3,547 yards, 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions while leading the Vikings to the NFC Championship game.
Broncos general manager John Elway said after the draft that opting not to select a quarterback during the seven rounds means “we’re not kicking (Lynch) to the curb” despite injuries and shaky play to begin his career. Lynch has played in five games (four starts) over two seasons, completing 61.7 percent of his passes for 792 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions. Trevor Siemian beat Lynch out the past two seasons for the starting job, before Denver signed Keenum and traded Siemian to Minnesota.
“We think he can still develop,” Elway said of Lynch following the draft. “When we drafted him two years ago, we knew that it was going to take some time.”
Butt making his return. After spending last season on injured reserve, Broncos tight end Jake Butt was also back on the field with Denver’s rookie pass-catchers during Saturday’s workout. And he was “pretty confident saying that this is the best I’ve ever felt in my career.”
“Selfishly and being a competitor, I wanted to be on the field (last season), obviously,” Butt said. “But I think itap gonna pay off for me, just really getting 100 percent before I go out there.”
Butt was a fifth-round pick last year following a decorated career at Michigan. He was the 2016 John Mackey Award winner, given to the nation’s best tight end, after compiling 46 catches for 546 yards and four touchdowns. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in the Orange Bowl, causing his draft stock to slip.
Butt acknowledged last season was emotionally trying. “It hurt” when he’d lift weights on his own during practice. While teammates studied their own play on film, he was “just kind watching back from afar.”
But now that he’s regained his health and added eight pounds of muscle, Buttap goal is to become Denver’s starting tight end in 2018. Rookie Troy Fumagalli, a fifth-round pick out of Wisconsin in last month’s draft, will be one of Buttap primary challengers.
“You’ve got to have that confidence to play in this league,” Butt said. “Thatap my goal. Thatap everybody in the room’s goal. And thatap whatap going to make us better is we’re going to be competing for that No. 1 spot.”
Offseason theme: Accountability. Bradley Chubb, the Broncos’ prized No. 5 overall pick, faced reporters Saturday wearing a navy blue t-shirt with the word “ACCOUNTABILITY” plastered in orange letters across the front.
He was not the first Broncos rookie to wear such attire throughout their orientation weekend. Turns out, that has been the overarching theme for Denver’s entire team this offseason, after posting a disappointing 5-11 record in 2017.
“We want more accountability from all of us — coaches, players, all of us,” Joseph said. “ … Every team has talent. Every team has good drafts. Every team has good players. But the best teams do things right all the time. Those teams win. Thatap our message this offseason.”
What does that word mean to Chubb?
“It means just doing my job and making sure that I don’t let anybody down,” said Chubb, a former pass-rushing terror at North Carolina State. “I feel like, as a rookie, a lot of eyes are going be on me, especially a guy that was picked No. 5 overall.”
