Lynch is the Leader of the Pack

For those of you that wondered, in the wake of Al Wilson’s departure, who will become the main captain of the defense – you need to look no further. John Lynch has all but announced his intention of leading this year’s defense.

If actions speak louder than words, then Lynch’s first day of the 2007 Denver Broncos Training Camp said it all…

On Sunday, John Lynch was the first player on the field at 8:00 AM. He was dominating throughout that morning session. Then, even though he was scheduled to take the afternoon off with the other veterans, he suited up and completed the partial-pads practice yesterday afternoon.

That pretty much says it all, folks. Lynch is going to be The Man this year.

Leadership is not something new to Lynch, who became the defensive leader in Tampa in 2000 when he was voted defensive captain after LB Hardy Nickerson left the team.

“Hardy had always been our captain, and our team nominated me captain. I think that goes down as the proudest moment in my career because your teammates think that much of you. My definition of leadership is just to make the people around you better, and I just try to do that in any way that I can.”

— John Lynch 2000

Two years later, he led that defense to a World Championship as the Bucs won their first Super Bowl in 2002. And although many people thought his career was over after his 2003 neck injury, he has only excelled in Denver where he has been named to the Pro Bowl the last three consecutive years.

Lynch may not be the first member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity from Stanford named John that turned down a chance at play pro baseball for football, to end up in Denver becoming a team captain. But I would venture to say, that he’s in good company with the only other man on that list!