He played college football for the Stanford Cardinal and was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round of the 1993 NFL draft, later winning Super Bowl XXXVII with them.

Lynch also spent four seasons with the Denver Broncos before retiring in 2008 and working as a color commentator for NFL on Fox games until being named general manager of the 49ers in 2017.

He attended Torrey Pines High School in the Carmel Valley/Del Mar area of San Diego, California, where he played football, baseball, and basketball.

[4] Lynch played two seasons in the minor leagues with the Sailors and the Kane County Cougars, starting nine games and going 1–3 with a 2.35 earned run average.

Lynch competed against Barney Bussey to be the starting strong safety after it was left vacant by the departure of Marty Carter.

[13] Head coach Sam Wyche named Lynch the backup strong safety behind Bussey to begin the regular season.

Lynch made his first career interception off a pass attempt by Bengals quarterback Jeff Blake, that was intended for wide receiver Darnay Scott, in the fourth quarter.

He attributes his performance to knowing Vikings head coach Dennis Green's impulses from playing under him at Stanford and studying Moon's tendencies.

Head coach Tony Dungy named Lynch the backup strong safety, behind Todd Scott, to begin the regular season.

[28][29] Head coach Tony Dungy retained Lynch as the starting strong safety to begin the regular season.

[36] In Week 16, Lynch made six combined tackles, a season-high two sacks, and forced a fumble during a 20–16 road loss to the Washington Redskins.

He sacked Redskins quarterback Trent Green for a 14-yard loss and forced a fumble that was recovered by teammate Steve White in the first quarter.

[39] In Week 10, Lynch collected a season-high 12 combined tackles and forced a fumble during a season debut 17–10 win against the Kansas City Chiefs.

[42][43][44] Head coach Tony Dungy retained the starting secondary from the previous season, including safeties Lynch and Damien Robinson and cornerbacks Ronde Barber and Donnie Abraham.

[45][46] Head coach Tony Dungy named Lynch the starting strong safety to begin the sixth consecutive season.

[48] On January 14, 2002, the Buccaneers fired head coach Tony Dungy after they finished third in the NFC Central with a 9–7 record and lost to the Eagles for the second straight year in the playoffs.

On January 19, 2003, Lynch recorded six solo tackles and broke up a pass during a 27–10 road victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game.

On January 26, 2003, Lynch started in Super Bowl XXXVII and recorded a tackle and pass deflection during the 48–21 victory over the Oakland Raiders.

[53] Lynch finished the season with 72 combined tackles (50 solo), six pass deflections, two interceptions, and was credited with half a sack in 14 games and starts.

[55][56] He signed a free agent contract with the Broncos despite being courted by the two-time defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots.

[55] In the 2005 season, Lynch nearly made his second Super Bowl appearance after the Broncos defeated the Patriots in the Divisional Round, but they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game.

[63] On November 23, 2008, Lynch joined NFL on Fox in the broadcasting booth as a color commentator, and was paired with Chris Rose and Kevin Burkhardt.

Lynch was officially inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame on October 23, 2016, in a ceremony at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, joining kicker Jason Elam and linebacker Simon Fletcher in the class of 2016.

A short time later, Kyle Shanahan introduced John Lynch to Jed York, and he was then hired as the general manager on January 29, 2017.

[74] His father, John Lynch Sr., is a retired radio executive in San Diego, a founder of the sports talk station XEPRS-AM 1090.