John Lynch share a bond going back three decades Dwayne Haskins Jersey , one built on respect, rivalry and reverence.“He was the poster I had on my wall,” said Lynch, who’s 11 years younger than Elway, 58. “He was the idol I had growing up.”The Broncos (6-6) play the 49ers (2-10) Sunday in the latest chapter of the friendly feud between the two superstars-turned-GMs whose paths have crisscrossed throughout their careers, both on the football field and the front office.Both were tutored by celebrated California high school football coach Jack Neumeier and both were Stanford quarterbacks before starring in Denver, albeit a decade apart and at different positions.Lynch prepared for his move into the front office by serving a sort of apprenticeship under Elway, attending the 2013 NFL combine with him and sitting in with the Broncos’ GM during the draft.Yet, it was 20 years earlier when Elway first lent Lynch a helping hand, as both men recalled during one of Lynch’s scholarship lunches a couple of years ago.“I knew that Johnny was nervous, this being his first preseason game,” Elway remembered. “So, we’re in the first quarter and Johnny’s out there and our cadence back in that time was Set-Hut. I was always famous for saying, ‘Red 98 Red 98. Set-Hut!’ Well I saw Johnny Lynch out there D.K. Metcalf Jersey , I said, ‘Set-Het, Red 98. Hey, Johnny Lynch!'”The shout-out impressed the rookie’s Tampa Bay teammates.“I came back to the huddle and it was so funny because all the guys said, ‘You know Elway?’ I said, yeah, we’re tight,” Lynch recounted.Years later, after they really had bonded, Lynch said Elway told him, “I was trying to loosen you up. I knew you were tight.”Elway waited until after the game, however, to deliver the tip that really helped Lynch, who went on to earn nine trips to the Pro Bowl http://www.seahawksauthorizedshops.com/authentic-cody-barton-jersey , including in all four of his seasons in Denver.Elway told Lynch he knew exactly when he was going to blitz and when he wasn’t just by reading his eyes.“I look at Johnny Lynch and if he kept looking at me, I knew I was OK, I knew he wasn’t coming,” Elway explained.If Lynch darted his eyes away, the Broncos QB knew Lynch was coming at him off the edge.“I guess he figured if he didn’t see me, I didn’t see him,” Elway said. “I knew when he was coming. I told him that after the game and obviously he took that to heart.”Lynch said Elway told him to “just look at me like you normally do. So, I used that throughout my career” to disguise his intentions.When he was offered the 49ers job last year, Lynch, who felt he might be too green, again sought Elway’s advice.“Yeah, he’s been awesome. He’s a great friend and he exposed me to the business,” Lynch said. “I think the biggest thing, when I had this opportunity presented to me really quickly and had a short Gary Jennings Jr. Jersey , finite time to give them an answer, he kind of gave me the confidence: ‘You know what, you can do this, just like anything else. You can be great at it.’ And hearing that from him kind of emboldened me to feel that way.”Their respective teams are heading in different directions. The 49ers have struggled since losing quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a knee injury and are jockeying for the top overall pick in the 2019 draft. The Broncos have won three straight and are pushing for their first playoff appearance since 2015.“He helped me out in the beginning but now it’s like anything else, we’re competing,” Lynch said. “Fortunately, we’re not in the same division and all, but he’s been great. He’s one of my best friends in life and we understand that we both have to serve our organizations well, but we can also continue to be great friends and that’s what we are.” New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton thinks NFL teams are making a mistake if they’re only focusing on hiring the next trendy offensive mind as head coach.In an interview with the NFL Network, Payton said he concerned about several aspects of the recent head coach hiring processes around the NFL. Despite being one of the best offensive coaches in the NFL himself, Payton feels like the seeming determination of some to find the next offensive savant ready to become a head coach could lead to many mistakes in who teams hire to run their teams.“The thing that can be disappointing though is when you talk to someone and they give you the profile (of the coach) and then I’ll say ‘well you’re not interested in a young Bill Belichick or a young Tony Dungy?'” Payton said.“They get so pigeonholed into – cause this is cyclical, right, – and ultimately you would say if we did a little history, successful head coaches probably come from the east and the west and north and south. They probably come of both color and they probably come on defense and on offense. And they’re good leaders http://www.seahawksauthorizedshops.com/authentic-phil-haynes-jersey , they’re great leaders. And so if you say well I just want the one that coaches quarterbacks and they’re on offense, well then you’re going to end up with a smaller pool and you’ll probably have less of a chance to be right because already of eight hired there’s going to be three that survive three years.”There were eight head coaches hired this offseason by NFL teams. Six of those coaches come from offensive backgrounds while only two, Vic Fangio and Brian Flores, have defensive roots. The running joke of the hiring cycle of “if you ever met Sean McVay, you too could be an NFL head coach” was based in a degree of reality. The Arizona Cardinals initially referred to Kliff Kingsbury as a friend of the Los Angeles Rams head coach in their article announcing the hire. Matt LaFleur and Zac Taylor have direct ties to McVay and were hired by the Green Bay Packers and Cincinnati Bengals, respectively. Rams assistant Shane Waldron was also a candidate for the Bengals job.But Payton believes the search for the next Sean McVay may lead to some large mistakes among coaching hires.“There are a handful of coaches that I know that if I was a G.M. who I would be interested in hiring,” Payton said. “I think more and more it’s season-by-season and ‘I want Alvin Kamara.’ Well, you can’t have him. You can go draft 10 more running backs and be 0 for 10 trying to find him or (Sean) McVay.“And so I see a lot of mistakes made in that process I feel like this long in and so we’re excited to play those teams.”While Payton is absolutely correct to assert that top defensive coaches should not be overlooked as head coaching candidates, there have been a number of successful hires in recent years coming from the hot offensive coach. Doug Pederson (Philadelphia) and Matt Nagy (Chicago) parlayed success with the Chiefs into winning head coaching jobs. Frank Reich (Indianapolis) helped get the Colts back to the playoffs after winning a Super Bowl on Pederson’s staff. Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco) could easily make a leap in his third year if Jimmy Garoppolo can stay healthy. Plus, the hiring of McVay by the Rams was also a roaring success. But teams should absolutely be just as open to the next Belichick or Dungy as they are to the next McVay. If they’re only looking for McVay, they won’t find Belichick or Dungy.