Dave Woloshin, the voice of the Memphis Tigers wants to get one thing out of the way: No one can replace Peyton Manning. But when asked if Paxton Lynch has any of the same leadership skills Manning possessed, Woloshin thinks Denver landed a winner with their first pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
“Let’s start with that being fair [or not],” Woloshin told Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro on “Afternoon Drive” on Mile High Sports AM 1340 and FM 104.7. “Because I don’t know that there’s ever been a quarterback who is more like a head coach than Peyton Manning.”
Fair or not, Lynch is expected to eventually assume the mantle of Denver Broncos starting quarterback – a title shared by arguably the greatest quarterback to ever play the game.
“Look, I know Peyton Manning well,” Woloshin said. “I know his father very well. I watched him play at Tennessee I watched his brother play at Ole Miss – I’m not going to tell you I watched his old man play at Ole Miss – but I will tell you that there’s nobody like Peyton Manning.”
Woloshin did say Lynch (who he says will need a year on the bench to develop), will be an immediate upgrade over Manning in one capacity.
“How about this, though,” Woloshin chuckled, “Paxton Lynch’s arm will be better this year than Peyton Manning’s was this past year.”
He kids, but it’s the truth. Woloshin said during the interview that he saw Lynch step into a 70-yard pass into the wind against Bowling Green.
“But that’s the point I’m trying to make,” he continued. “This kid is not going to come in and be Peyton Manning. First of all, there never may be another guy like that. But he’ll get to 75 percent, and he’ll work it. He will absolutely work it.”
Goodman and Shapiro asked for the comparison to Manning because there is a lasting impression that Brock Osweiler – a quarterback with similar physical attributes to Lynch – didn’t have the “take charge, follow me” attitude John Elway and Gary Kubiak wanted from their quarterback. Elway put good money on the table to retain Osweiler, but the quarterback Denver drafted in 2012 ultimately opted for Houston, and did so without a particularly aggressive fight from Elway. Lynch, Woloshin says, has already shown he can win over a team and a fan base, even when a popular figure is already in place.
“I think with time he is [a take charge, follow me guy],” Woloshin said. “I’ll give you a good example. When he became the quarterback in Memphis – he was so good, you could see it right off the bat that he could make every throw, but he really didn’t know offenses very well, he didn’t know how to read defenses so much; you had to be patient with him – there was another quarterback here, a guy by the name of Jacob Karam, who was a really popular kid.
“[Karam] was a transfer from Texas Tech, he didn’t get his fair shake from Tommy Tuberville, so he comes to Memphis and he plays pretty well the first year. He’s a kid that’s going to grind it for you, he’s got all heart, but not a whole lot of talent – particularly when you match him up with Paxton Lynch. But a lot of this town loved Jacob Karam – and you can go look him up on YouTube; he’s famous for playing the piano at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – he’s the kind of kid that you want your daughter to marry, that you want your sister to marry – he’s just a great guy. So no one wanted him to fail.
“No one thought that this young kid just coming up from a small high school in Florida should beat out Jacob Karam, but [former Memphis head coach] Justin Fuente realized, ‘This is the way I’m going to win – this guy. And not just next year. My best chance to win this year is to bring this freshman in.’
“My point is, there were a lot of people that were against Paxton Lynch and by the end of that year, they were for Paxton Lynch and he became the leader of the team. So, given time, yeah – I think he can be the leader of the team. I think he’s the guy that you want. Is he going to be Peyton Manning? Come on. No one’s going to be Peyton Manning, at least not for a long time.”
While no one may ever truly replace Manning, Broncos Country should be more than happy with 75 percent of him in the form of Lynch.
Listen to the full interview with Woloshin, including a timeline for Lynch’s development into the starting role, in the podcast below.
Catch “Afternoon Drive” every weekday from 4p-6p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 and FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s largest sports talk lineup.
