The Broncos moved up Thursday just in the knick of time to take quarterback Paxton Lynch with the 26th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. They did so in order to find a quarterback to challenge the current roster for the starting role but to also take the team well into the future. However, Lynch’s past suggests he will need some time to learn to play in head coach Gary Kubiak’s system, a task he said Friday he is more than ready for.
“My job here is to come in and to work every day, day-in and day-out, give it everything I got and compete with those other quarterbacks,” Lynch said Friday afternoon. “I know that they are ready to compete as well. I’m going to do whatever I have to do to help this team win ball games whether that is playing of pushing the guy in front of me.”
During his time at Memphis University Lynch threw for 8,863 yards and 59 touchdowns while rushing for 687 yards and 17 touchdowns in a spread offense, almost entirely out of the shotgun formation. He did have experience in a huddle up offense but it was early in his collegiate career.
“Huddle-wise, we did a little bit at Memphis but my freshman year at Memphis we were just a basic huddle team so we were calling the play all the time in the huddle and then we got away from that with more of the spread; so we did a little bit of calling plays in the huddle towards the end of my career there in the red zone but consistently calling plays in the huddle was probably my freshman year,” he said Thursday via phone.
The narrative before the draft was that, like many spread offense college quarterbacks, Lynch would have a tough time adjusting to a pro-style in the NFL. He heard said narrative and is ready to work to dispel that notion.
“The biggest thing I have heard mechanically, is footwork just because I came from a spread offense and we did a lot of stuff out of the gun so I didn’t have to get under center and really push the tempo with my footwork, get my feet lined up where I had to throw the ball. I know that is going to be a big step for me at the next level but I am excited to see what happens when I take my footwork to the next level well,” he said confidently.
The Broncos certainly tried to work more from under center to start the 2015 season with an aging Peyton Manning but ultimately could not find a consistent rhythm from that formation. Now that the Broncos have moved on to a new quarterback group currently consisting of two new members of the team it is likely the team will return to a heavy dose of formations with the signal caller starting under center.
Despite Lynch’s college career in the spread offense his footwork expressed Kubiak immediately saying, “He has the knack for making people miss, extending plays, and it’s really hard in this business to coach guys to keep their eyes down the field when they’re moving, and this guy does a great job of that.”
Leading up to the draft, Lynch knew he would need to show improvement with his footwork and start from under center and after immediately being drafted Thursday he said by phone he has gained confidence in that type of formation.
“I’m very comfortable under center as of right now just because of all the work we’ve been putting into it since I left Memphis, and getting ready for the Combine, getting ready for my Pro Day,” he said Thursday. “That’s all I’ve been doing, I haven’t been doing any of the shotgun stuff, just mostly under center for work and speeding that up and quickening my tempo.”
Lynch will be working with quarterback coach Greg Knapp who joined the team in 2013. Elway and Kubiak admitted that Knapp had the most extensive time with Lynch and studied him at length over the past few months. Knapp, Elway and Kubiak will now have their quarterback and will need to get him ready for the NFL. Lynch for one is ready for the work to begin.
“I’m kind of glad it is over with, that whole process and now have a team, a family to be a part of and now can go to work.”
The Broncos and the NFL will be watching closely to see if that work pays off.
