As the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft unfolded, the Bills watched the player they wanted fall right into their laps with the No. 19 pick. That they apparently were willing to give up other picks try to move up for Paxton Lynch – Denver ultimately made the deal with Seattle, parting with the No. 31 and 94 picks – is proof that they’re not focused exclusively on defense. Then add in that Lynch also has the physical profile the Broncos like – 6-foot-6 5/8-inches tall, 244 pounds – and you have a player the Broncos had rated on par with California quarterback Jared Goff, who was the No. 1 pick of the draft Thursday night by the St. Louis Rams.
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With the selection of Lynch, it’s easy to speculate that the Broncos are no longer interested in acquiring Colin Kaepernick from the 49ers, nor will they be entertaining a trade for Sam Bradford, either.
Elway, who might be the best poker player in all of football, was delightfully frank about the situation with King, saying the Broncos were “really close” with Kaepernick and that the Eagles were just “asking way too much”.
“It’s always been a dream of mine so I was hoping somebody would give me the call eventually, no matter where it happened but, at the end of the day, I think I ended up in the best possible situation”. Once Lynch fell to 26th, the cost for the Broncos to trade up and draft him was palatable. You just want to get picked and go to a team and get to work. Though Marcus Williams played well previous year and Buster Skrine moves outside to be a starter, Alexander would still be a valuable piece, especially since Dee Milliner turned out to be a disaster.
“You can potentially put a rookie under center, and he could throw 23, 24 interceptions, and you’re saying, ‘Oh, the defense is good enough where we can still get to the Super Bowl and win, ‘” said Quinn, a former first-round quarterback in 2007. Future NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning retired and backup Brock Osweiler somewhat shockingly left for the Houston Texans. They do have Blaine Gabbert on the roster, and Gabbert started the final eight games of the season a year ago after Kaepernick was benched. There are still quarterbacks on the board, so we’ll see what day two brings. Lynch is expected to get slightly more than $9 million over four years with a fifth-year club option. Lynch mentioned that fellow Bronco quarterbacks Trevor Siemien and Mark Sanchez texted him last night.
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Lynch’s passing record was tremendous a year ago. “He’s doing a great job, working extremely hard”, Kubiak said, adding that he’s not anxious at all about getting Lynch into his “under center-style” offense.
