Paxton Lynch: The Future Is Now for the Denver Broncos

We all knew it was coming eventually.   From the very moment that John Elway moved up in the first round of the 2016 draft, we knew that the future quarterback of the Denver Broncos was going to the be the man himself, Paxton Lynch, aka PFL.  The keyword of all of this was future, but not necessarily the present.  From the moment the offseason program began, Paxton Lynch has been cemented in as the number three quarterback behind veteran Mark Sanchez, and second year man Trevor Siemian.  Most just assumed that Paxton would spend his rookie year learning the NFL game, and Gary Kubiak’s extensive playbook.  After Saturday night’s affair against the San Francisco 49ers, one thing is astonishingly clear—there is no time like the present.

After Trevor Siemian inexplicably threw a TD to the other team, and failed to pick himself up after that; after Mark Sanchez had two horrendous turnovers inside of a minutes time, making it three turnovers in 2 quarter of preseason action from him, it was PFL’s turn to take the stage.  The rookie, playing behind a pitiful third sting offensive line, and throwing to receivers that won’t make the

team (aside from a few plays with Sunshine), Lynch engineered two brilliant touchdown drives in a little less than a half of football.  On this night, Lynch did it all; he stood in the pocket and made some good throws; the arm talent was on full display as he was throwing darts into tight windows; he showed great touch on a deep ball while standing strong with a defender coming strong and fast down the barrel (even if the pass was dropped); he shrugged off sure sacks and made instinctual plays with hit feet; and most importantly he put the ball in the end zone—twice.

The night wasn’t without mistakes as Lynch wasn’t perfect, but this is to be expected from the rookie.  Lynch had a few instances where he held on to the ball too long, showing an indecisiveness that lead to a few sacks.  There were a couple of throws he made that came out a little late, allowing the defender to come make a play on the ball.  He did throw an interception on

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the last offensive play of the game for the Broncos, but in his defense, he was A)  trying to push the ball down the field in a one minute drill with no timeouts;  B)  the pass, despite being high, could have easily been caught—if it were Emmanuel Sanders, Demaryius Thomas, Bennie Fowler, Cody Latimer, or even Jordan Taylor, it probably would have been.

One thing the other two quarterbacks have shown is that they won’t be perfect either, so if there are going to be the mistakes, it may as well be with the player that has the most talent.  Of course he is behind Sanchez and Siemian in the playbook, as Kubiak stated in his postgame presser.

"“ I think I’ve continued to tell you guys that he is behind the others from a knowledge standpoint as far as running the group.”"

But with that said, PFL can do things that others can’t do—such as bounce out of sure sacks and turn the play into a gain.  He is incredibly athletic and extremely fast for his size; the others cannot turn the corner on bootlegs the way he can, or extend plays and use his cannon to fire the ball way down the field to his receivers—rumor has it he can throw it 80 yards in the air.

To this point in camp, reps has been the name of the game for Lynch.  The Broncos have tried to get Lynch as many reps as they possibly could, especially early as they set up Lynch and the third string offense and defense on a separate field during team sessions as Sanchez and Simeian split reps on the other field with the ones and twos.  Lynch has played more in preseason then Sanchez or Siemian, as he played all of the second half against the Bears, and all but one quick series against the Niners.  And the trend of getting as many reps as possible should continue, except now they should come with the first string offense.

As Kubiak has stated, this is still a 3-way competition:

"“He’s always been in the mix. I just told you guys that he’s behind the other two from a knowledge standpoint, but we’ve been out there competing every day. Everybody is in competition to play.”"

Now Gary needs to prove these words to be true—the score thus far:

Sanchez:  One start.

Siemian:  One start.

The third preseason game, normally reserved to be the dress rehearsal game should be PFL’s opportunity to start the game and play with the first team.  Watching Lynch play behind a good offensive line, with top notch receivers, and against premier talent can give the Broncos coaching staff a true look at where the kid is now.  Paxton has proved thus far, that when the Broncos are playing another team, he has been at his finest.

John Elway drafted PFL for him to be the future quarterback of this storied franchise.  The fact of the matter is, this Broncos team is set up better than any roster in the NFL for a rookie quarterback with his skill set to succeed.  They have a defense that is arguably the greatest defense that this league has ever seen.  The receivers are perhaps the best in the NFL from top to bottom.  C.J. Anderson and Devontae Booker are going to make one heck of a tag team at the running back position for the next few years, and are prepared to run over defenses this season.

Because of all of this, the Broncos simply don’t need much from him.  He needs to keep turnovers to a minimum, which was one of his strongest traits in college; he needs to be able to hand the

ball off with the best of them as the Broncos identity on offense will be a strong running game; he will have to be good on play action, something that is a young quarterback’s best friend.  Lynch can handle that, there is no doubt.

Yes the playbook will be smaller, especially at first, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t work.  In Paxton’s case, his best plays won’t be the ones drawn up in the playbook—no, they will be the ones that he makes on his own, with his instincts, on his raw talent alone—the ones that make your jaw drop, and will lift 78,000 fans to their feet and send a roar of excitement across the Mile High City.

John Elway has told PFL to trust his instincts, and against the 49ers, once he settled in he did just that.  He made plays that Mark Sanchez, nor Trevor Siemian have the physical capabilities of making, but then again few do.  Paxton Lynch is your quarterback of the future Broncos Country, but the fact is, he should be the quarterback of the present as well.  Please welcome, Paxton Freaking Lynch.