Last night, John Elway and the Denver Broncos couldn’t wait until pick No. 31 to land their next franchise quarterback; instead, they trading up to pick No. 26 to select Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch.
Lynch echoed a similar message today, saying he’s excited the draft process is over with, and he’s ready to get back to football.
“I’m ready to get back to work and diving into it,” said Lynch.
Less than 24 hours after joining the Broncos, Lynch made his first appearance at the UCHealth Training Center as a member of the Denver Broncos. With nothing but smiles and excitement, it was obvious that Lynch is thrilled to be with the world champions.
“Once I got here and walked into the building, it felt like home,” said Lynch. “It felt good. It felt like I belonged here.”
While Lynch is the future for the Broncos at quarterback, he has a lot of work to do to develop to the NFL game. In fact, there is a very good chance he is not the starter this year, but he will leave that up to someone else to decide.
“I guess that’s up to the coaches,” said Lynch. “My job here is to come in and come to work every day. Day in and day out, give everything I’ve got, compete with those other quarterbacks.”
Even though Lynch was brought in to be the franchise quarterback moving forward, he still has the support of the other quarterbacks on the team. Lynch mentioned that fellow Bronco quarterbacks Trevor Siemien and Mark Sanchez texted him last night.
“They were just congratulating me and letting me know it’s time to get to work,” said Lynch.
And he’s is not shy to the fact that he has plenty of room for growth. When asked what he needed to work on most, he pointed to his footwork.
“I came from the spread offense and we did a lot of stuff out of the gun. I think I’m going to have to get under center and really push the tempo on my footwork and getting my feet lined up where I have to throw the ball,” said Lynch. “But I’m excited to see what happens when I take my footwork to the next level.”
Just before Lynch arrived to showcase his new No. 12 jersey, the media spoke with his former head coach at Memphis, currently the head coach at Virginia Tech, Justin Fuente. Unsurprisingly, Fuente had nothing but praise for his former quarterback.
“[Paxton] always met the challenge,” said Fuente. “He’s a highly intelligent young man …he’s going to make the transition relatively quickly.”
While Lynch starts working on his transition from Memphis to the NFL, his primary concern is the Denver Broncos.
“I’m going to do whatever I have to do to help this team win ballgames,” said Lynch.
The biggest transition for Lynch, however, may be getting used to the pressure that comes with being the quarterback for the Denver Broncos, especially coming from a small Memphis program.
“I know at Memphis when I first got there … when you looked into the stands, the only people you saw were your mom and dad and your teammates’ moms and dads. But here, [there will be a bigger] fan base and it feels good walking into a situation like this,” said Lynch.
While Lynch’s mom and dad must certainly be proud and excited, the millions of fans that make up Broncos Country will all have their eyes on Lynch for years to come — hopefully.