July 24, 2008 5:57 PM
Lynch facing a challenge
Safety John Lynch has been named to nine Pro Bowls in his career, second in NFL history at his position, behind only Hall of Famer Ken Houston.
Lynch is also set to enter his 16th season and has started at least 12 games in every season since 1996. However, he likely would not be in a Broncos uniform as camp opens unless team owner Pat Bowlen had not made a late-night phone call this past March to help work out a deal to return to the team.
Still Lynch, who lined up largely on early-down situatuions in minicamp, now faces a tough battle for the kind of playing time he's been accustomed to in his career.
How tough? Asked Thursday about Lynch's prospect for a starting role in the defense, Mike Shanahan offered this:
"I sat down and talked to John at the end of our OTAs and I think John knows as you get older there are no promises. All you do, when you talk to player, is share with them that you'll give them an opportunity to start, an opportunity to do what he's done in the past, but there is no guarantee in this game when you get older. John doesn't want any free lunches, he wants to go out there and compete. He'd like to be an every-down player ... but that's part of the evaluation process.''
--Jeff Legwold
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