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With XFL 3.0 officially kicking off this past weekend, quarterback Paxton Lynch received another shot with his sixth team in four different pro football leagues to show that there was a reason why the Denver Broncos chose him in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Lynch got the starting nod for the Orlando Guardians ahead of Quinten Dormady and Deondre Francois against the Houston Roughnecks on Saturday.
Unfortunately, Lynch didn’t finish what he started because head coach Terrell Buckley benched him after completing 15 of 21 passes for 136 yards, a touchdown and an interception in the Guardians’ 33-12 loss.
On the plus (?) side, by being benched in his XFL debut, Paxton Lynch set a record for futility at the quarterback position that is unlikley to ever be matched.
https://twitter.com/MichaelBalkoJr/status/1627910564503494657
That’s right. Paxton Lynch is the only quarterback to ever be benched in the NFL, CFL, XFL, and USFL.
Football’s equivalent of the EGOT
— Bryan Bishop (@BaldBryan) February 21, 2023
That monumental achievement got me to thinking about other well-traveled quarterback draft busts.
In doing so, two names immediately came to mind: Johnny Manziel and Josh Rosen.
Let’s go to the tale of the tape…
Paxton Lynch
26th overall pick in the NFL Draft
NFL (3 seasons) Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Pittsburgh Steelers [5 games]
CFL (1 season) Saskatchewan Roughriders [0 games]
USFL (1 season) Michigan Panthers [6 games]
XFL (1 season) Orlando Guardians [1 game]
Johnny Manziel
22nd overall pick in the NFL Draft
NFL (2 seasons) Cleveland Browns [15 games]
Spring League (1 season) [2 games]
CFL (1 season) Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal Alouettes [8 games]
Alliance of American Football (1 season) Memphis Express [2 games]
Fan Controlled Football League (2 seasons) Zappers [5 games]
Josh Rosen
10th overall in the NFL Draft
NFL (4 seasons) Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns and Minnesota Vikings [24 games]
So, based on all of that, which one of these three has been the most disappointing pro quarterback?
• Rosen leads with 24 NFL games played, while Lynch has played the least (5).
• Manziel has played the most games overall with 32. Lynch is last with 12.
• Manziel has also played for the most leagues with 5, while Rosen has only played in 1 so far.
• Lynch and Manziel each played for 6 different teams, while Rosen made it 7 teams in 4 years last season.
All in all, it’s a tough call, but with Paxton Lynch hitting the quadrella for being benched in different pro football leagues I think he “wins.”