Climate change.
Broncos first-round pick Paxton Lynch doesn’t mind leaving sunny Florida for snowy Colorado to join the Super Bowl champions.
Paxton Lynch’s welcometo-the-NFL moment came with his first step in Colorado on Friday afternoon. Less than 24 hours after celebrating his big-league promotion at a bowling alley in sunny Orlando, Fla., Lynch stepped outside Denver International Airport to a mix of rain and snow and a temperature of 36 degrees.
“The snow was a little different from being in Florida,” he said, smiling widely. “The white sand was in the sky, and the white sand is usually on the ground.”
Welcome to the Mile High City, kid. In spring.
The setting couldn’t be more different, and the transition as quarterback from the University of Memphis to the reigning Super Bowl champion Broncos is steep.
“At Memphis when I first got there, it was a little rough,” he told reporters in an auditorium at the Broncos’ Dove Valley headquarters Friday. “When you looked into the stands, the only people you saw was your mom and dad and your teammates’ moms and dads. Here, there’s going to be a little bit better fan base, and it feels good walking into a situation like this.”
The Broncos traded up to draft Lynch at No. 26 in the first round Thursday, giving up their No. 31 pick and their
third-round No. 94 selection. It was the culmination of general manager John Elway’s day-long quest to scale the opening round and get his guy.
Lynch — a 22-year-old quarterback with the size, arm strength and mobility ideal for Broncos coach Gary Kubiak’s offense — was the guy. He was the guy all along. The call from Elway on Thursday night left Lynch in tears. When 16-year-old Make-A-Wish recipient Daniel Hailpern announced the Broncos’ selection from Chicago, reality set in.
“Whenever you’re looking at that TV and they say, ‘The Denver Broncos have selected Paxton Lynch,’ you know it’s official,” Lynch said. “I’m kind of glad it’s over with, that whole process, and now I have a team.”
Sixteen days earlier, Lynch met with Elway and Kubiak during a predraft visit that left a lasting impression on all. Lynch phoned home after raving about the coaches and the city and the mountains. Elway and Kubiak went back to the tape — the proof of Lynch’s ability at Memphis and the promise of his talent as an NFL quarterback.
“When I watch him on film, the thing that’s really exciting is that this guy extends plays,” Kubiak said Thursday night. “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. (He is a) big, strong kid, makes all the throws, moves around very, very well and, like I said, very motivated too. That’s one thing I really liked about him when he was here was how motivated he is to come in here and be successful.”
Kubiak and Elway expressed their good fortune in drafting a player they view as a piece to their long-term puzzle. Uncertainty at the quarterback position diffused some of the post-Super Bowl celebration the past two months. Questions of 2016, of the post-Peyton Manning era in Denver, had only been answered in part.
But Thursday night’s development renewed hope.
After receiving his new No. 12 jersey — this one orange and blue — and donning a Broncos ballcap, Lynch looked up and faced his future. Despite the snow, despite the near-freezing temperature and despite the impending learning curve of the NFL, he was ready.
“If you were to have told me before the draft that (I’d) be playing for the Denver Broncos, filling Peyton Manning’s shoes, I would have told you you’re crazy,” he said.
“When I walked in the building, it felt like home. Kind of like when you get recruited out of high school to go to college. You walk in and you know that’s where you’re going to be for however long, hopefully all four years and, here, hopefully your career. When I walked in, it felt good. It felt like I belonged here.”