Seahawks passed on Paxton Lynch in 2016, finally get their man
The Seahawks could have drafted quarterback Paxton Lynch in 2016. Happily, they traded down then. He’ll get his chance to make the squad now.
The Seahawks announced they have signed former Broncos quarterback and first-round pick Paxton Lynch to a futures/reserve contract. He’s taking the place of the Seahawks former practice squad quarterback Alex McGough, at least for now. Time will tell if Lynch can find a place on the team.
Considering how the career of Lynch has played out, it’s a bit hard to remember he was a hot commodity in the 2016 NFL Draft. He was the third-ranked quarterback by walterfootball.com and nfl.com behind Carson Wentz and Jared Goff. You’ve probably heard of those guys. More than one team was salivating at the chance to get Lynch.
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Specifically, the Denver Broncos and the Dallas Cowboys both wanted the Memphis product. Hard to believe now, but Lynch really was a hot commodity. The Seahawks had the 26th pick in the first round, and played their usual trading game. In this case, they made out like bandits.
Denver swooped in ahead of Dallas and offered their first and third round picks, bettering the Cowboys offer of a second and third. Seattle wasn’t going to draft a quarterback anyway, not with Russell Wilson coming off his fourth, and best at the time, season. The Seahawks dropped down all of five spots in the first round and got the player they wanted, offensive lineman Germain Ifedi.
Seahawks got two starters for one future castoff
Yes, Ifedi has had his issues. Believe me, we know. But you can’t overlook that in his three years in the league, he’s played 44 games, all starts. He also just wrapped up what was easily his best season. He cut his penalties from exactly 1.00 per game in 2017 (atrocious) to .59 per game (merely bad) in 2018. Ifedi also managed to get pancaked less frequently.
The Seahawks reaped the real bonus with that third-round draft pick they got from the Broncos. Seattle added tight end Nick Vannett to their roster with this trade. Like Ifedi, Vannett hasn’t exactly been a first-team All-Pro, but he’s been a fine player for Seattle. In his three years, Vannett has played in 39 games and started 15. Like Ifedi, he’s coming off his best season. Vannett got nine starts and hauled in 29 passes with three touchdowns in the mix. Not the greatest production, but still very productive.
Now compare those two careers with the player Denver got for those two picks. Lynch only saw action in five games, four of those starts. In those five games he passed for 792 yards, four touchdowns, and four interceptions. Lynch’s career passer rating is 76.7. That basically averages to a really bad Russell Wilson performance, like his game in the season finale versus the Cardinals.
Does that mean this is a bad move by the Seahawks? Not at all. This amounts to nothing more than a chance for Lynch to compete for the backup spot. He wasn’t even on a roster in 2018. As big a mess as the offense has been in Denver, it may have done him good to be out of the game a year, just to clear his head.
Next. Where is that extension for Frank Clark?. dark
I’m not a fan of quarterbacks with huge arms that lack the football smarts to go with it, and that describes Lynch as well as anyone. Yet, he only had one truly bad game out of his five. The problem is, he only had one good one, and the rest were strictly mediocre. Lynch is still young and could actually improve in Seattle. The key is, the Seahawks got 83 games out of the players they took instead of Lynch, and now can see if he’s worth keeping for a minimum salary. Win win win.