Seven years after the ship sailed on Paxton Lynch’s NFL career, he’s still dog paddling after it.
Most recently, Lynch was playing for the Colorado Spartans of the National Arena League. He suffered a torn ACL in his third game.
“I was pissed off,” Lynch told Luca Evans of the Denver Post. “And it sucks. I didn’t want it to be like this.”
The sentiment undoubtedly applies to his entire professional career. A first-round pick of the Broncos in 2016, Lynch washed out of Denver just before the start of his third season. Lynch started four total games in two seasons, with 792 passing yards and a passer rating of 76.7.
He didn’t play for anyone in 2018 before getting a shot to make the Seahawks in 2019. He eventually landed in Pittsburgh after Ben Roethlisberger suffered a season-ending elbow injury against Seattle in Week 2.
The Steelers waived Lynch before the start of the 2020 regular season. He then spent a season in the CFL before playing for three teams in two years with multiple spring leagues.
In both 2024 and 2025, Lynch didn’t play. The Spartans were his return to football.
“I was like, ‘OK, if I play this year in arena football,’” Lynch said, “‘I’m going to play as Paxton Lynch. I’m going to have full confidence in myself. I don’t really care.’ And that’s what I did. . . . It felt good to do that again.”
He lost that authenticity in 2018, when the Broncos signed Case Keenum to be the starter and doubt derailed Lynch’s time in Denver.
“I always knew who I was off the field,” Lynch told Evans. “But when it became Paxton Lynch the football player, and all these people had these different opinions about me — that’s when it was hard for me. . . . I was like . . . ‘You believe that you’re good. But you’re not playing good. And then all these people are saying you’re not good. So it’s like, ‘Are these people seeing something I’m not seeing?’ It was the constant battle in that.”
Whether a brief stint of feeling like himself again is the final chapter or just another page in a longer book remains to be seen. Regardless, he had talent. He wasn’t a fluke first-round pick. He was widely regarded as the No. 3 prospect in the 2016 draft, behind Jared Goff and Carson Wentz.
And if the Broncos hadn’t traded up to get Lynch at the bottom of round one, the Cowboys would have. Which would have likely short-circuited Dak Prescott’s time in Dallas before it even began. Prescott was a fourth-round pick that same year.
On the day before his team’s next game, Columbus Aviators coach Ted Ginn Jr. was arrested for DUI.
Via Kierstin Lindkvist of WSYX in Columbus, Ginn was arrested on Saturday afternoon in Tarrant County, Texas. He was released on $1,000 bond.
“We are aware of an incident involving Head Coach Ted Ginn Jr. over the weekend and are in the process of gathering more information,” UFL president & CEO Russ Brandon told WSYX. “Offensive coordinator Todd Haley will handle the head coaching duties for the Aviators game on Sunday.”
The Aviators face the Dallas Renegades at noon ET on Sunday.
Ginn, who turns 41 tomorrow, was hired to coach the Aviators in December 2025. They have an 0-2 record in the 2026 season.
The former Ohio State star receiver was the ninth overall pick in the 2007 draft. He played for the Dolphins, 49ers, Panthers, Cardinals, Saints, and Bears over the course of a 14-year NFL career.
The home opener for the defending UFL champions is going well.
The D.C. Defenders lead the Houston Gamblers at halftime of their Week 3 game, 28-0. It’s the biggest halftime lead in UFL history.
The game has featured the UFL debut of Taulia Tagovailoa, the younger brother of Falcons quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Taulia Tagovailoa has completed nine of 18 passes for 66 yards and an interception that was returned 70 yards for a touchdown by Defenders cornerback Gareon Conley, a first-round pick of the Raiders in the 2017 NFL draft.
Defenders kicker Matt McCrane has kicked another 60-yard field goal, good for four points under new UFL rules.
The Defenders opened the season with a loss in St. Louis. A win today would move the Defenders to 2-1.
In January 2025, former NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell hid an arbitration ruling that contained a useful finding that the NFL had invited teams to collude as to the issue of guaranteed contracts.
In April 2026, current NFLPA executive director JC Tretter handled the appeal decision in the same case differently.
Tretter promptly informed the NFLPA’s board of player representatives about the ruling. The message, a copy of which PFT has obtained, explains that the ruling on appeal (a loss for the union on the surface) affirmed the finding that “the NFL had encouraged and invited clubs to take steps to reduce salary guarantees and bonuses during a March team owners’ meeting.”
The message also includes the key line from the appeal ruling: “We cannot fathom these sophisticated businesspeople did not comprehend they were being encouraged to limit or reduce guaranteed contracts.”
Tretter faced questions last year regarding the concealment of the original ruling, given that he was the NFLPA chief strategy officer at the time. He has since said that the ruling was also kept from him, and that he was “muzzled” by the union’s lawyers when he wanted to set the record straight.
The fact that the NFL was caught attempting to collude could be used by the NFLPA in various ways. At a minimum, it’s a potent P.R. tool. It also could become part of the new effort by the Department of Justice to investigate the NFL for anticompetitive practices.
The nature of the NFL’s arrangement with the NFLPA gives the league a specific antitrust exemption. Because the NFLPA has been organized as a multi-employer bargaining unit, the 32 independent businesses that belong to the NFL can impose certain rules on the selection, payment, and movement of employees. Side deals among those businesses that aren’t permitted by the rules (e.g., an agreement to limit guaranteed contracts) exceed the antitrust exemption — making it a potential antitrust violation.
Given that the DOJ is looking for potential antitrust violations, the arbitration ruling (as repeated and strengthened by the appeal) becomes another avenue for poking around in the NFL’s business.
The 49ers spent some time with a possible veteran addition to their secondary on Friday.
The NFL’s daily transaction report shows that Jones visited with the 49ers. It’s the first reported visit for Jones since he became a free agent last month.
Jones played in Miami last season and started all 17 games for the Dolphins. He had 77 tackles, an interception and two forced fumbles in those appearances.
Jones was a 2022 fourth-round pick by the Patriots and moved on to the Raiders after being waived in November 2023. He had 136 tackles, seven interceptions, four interception return touchdowns, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery before getting to Miami.
