ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Plenty of Broncos players are reflecting on their own draft nights as this year's edition approaches.

Quarterback Paxton Lynch was the latest to share his draft story, and he had reporters laughing as he recounted his night at a bowling alley on April 28, 2016.

"I had thought that I was going to go a couple places before [the Broncos drafted Lynch], like maybe to the Saints or something," Lynch said. "[Lynch's agent] Leigh [Steinberg] was just kind of giving me some ideas where he thought I was going to go, and there was a couple times, you know, [when] we were bowling and I went to the back room to kind of get ready for the phone call and it didn't happen and everyone's like looking through the window and I've got to get up and walk out.

"It was really awkward, so I was like, 'Listen, until the phone rings, don't call me back here again because I'm not doing that.' As the draft went on, it got later in the first round, I was kind of freaking out."

Eventually, Lynch had his concerns answered.

"I thought it was going to be a quick night," Lynch said. "I [would] get drafted and I can just bowl until the sun comes up, but it's not how it went. I actually went outside of the bowling alley and I had a football there. I was just throwing the football with my friends because I didn't think I was going to get picked in the first round and I was like, 'I had this big party and I didn't even get picked.'

"I was throwing the football and then Leigh came running out. And it was a 303 area code. [He said,] 'Denver's on the line, Denver's on the line.' I answered the phone and it was Mr. [John] Elway, Coach [Gary] Kubiak and I was just really excited about it."

If the Broncos hadn't traded up to draft Lynch with the 26th-overall pick, the rest of the weekend might have been very different for the former Memphis Tiger.

After all, there was no Day 2 draft plan.

"Day 2 was probably sit on the couch," Lynch joked.

Photo credit: Lola Gomez, News-Journal