You’ve heard almost everything you’re going to hear about Paxton Lynch since the beginning of the pre-draft process. ‘Anonymous’ scouts dropping lines about him being spacey and different as a person. Others questioning his maturity level, or his ability to process the game because of a subpar Wonderlic Test score.

Yes, there are some that put a high level of scrutiny on those, especially with quarterbacks who don’t score well, but when considering Dan Marino famously scored a 16 out of 50, I’ll maintain my skepticism on any non-concrete correlation. Still, Todd McShay, Daniel Jeremiah and virtually anyone else on any network have all said the same thing: Lynch needs at least one, maybe two years to develop into a respectable NFL quarterback.

Now, even the most polished college quarterbacks need a season to shape their game into the pro-level version that can make a true impact on their respective teams, and the league in general. Obviously some more than others, but nearly every quarterback in the league either had a wall to climb initially, or hit that wall in some form or fashion within their first few seasons in the league.

Has anyone heard Lynch could be ready to go in Week 1? Not me. And for the record, I don’t necessarily believe that he is anywhere near a finished product either, but I believe he could be as ready as any rookie quarterback in 2016. Not solely because of his skill set, such as his ability to move well out of the pocket, or his cannon for an arm. You see, most never fail to mention those right before they tell you how he doesn’t have it between the ears just yet.

Nope, I’m telling you just the opposite. Lynch absolutely has it upstairs, and his natural abilities will only expedite the process of the Memphis passer becoming a very good quarterback in the league.

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This isn’t the first time Lynch has been doubted. Not the first time he’s heard that there were concerns about his ability to transition to the next level either. If you’re not familiar with his story out of high school, I’ll give you the skinny on it.

After transitioning to quarterback from running back, due to his outgrowing the position, Lynch was a Wing-T signal caller in high school with some underwhelming receivers at his disposal. The summer before his senior season he attended South Florida’s camp who lead him to believe that they were going to offer him following the final workout. The camp ended, and the coaches apparently began to scatter like cockroaches.

He was not heavily recruited to begin with, but Florida Tech (a small school with a program in its infancy) had offered a partial scholarship which was about all they could hand out with their limited resources. Central Florida also maintained contact with Lynch throughout the recruiting process but, in the end, couldn’t pull the trigger early enough. Additionally, Miami had had him in their camp as well for a time, yet that didn’t yield any offers either.

To make matters worse, Lynch suffered a deep knee bruise in his senior season and was only able to showcase his growth in the last four games of the year which, in turn, dropped schools interest level even further. He was constantly doubted and passed up by lesser talents, yet knew he had the skills to be a D-1 starting quarterback.

Charlie Weis saw what others were not seeing and showed interest while he was at Florida and had Lynch ready to sign, but fate would step in again as Weis moved on to get the head gig at Kansas. Despite remaining interested in Florida – which was publicized as being mutual – Weis’ replacement (Brent Pease) pulled the rug out from under Lynch’s feet by agreeing to sign his high-profile friends’ son (Skylar Mornhinweg) instead as a favor.

Meanwhile, as National Signing Day approached, another high school’s athletic director was talking Lynch up to newly hired Memphis coach Justin Fuente. Fuente, who coached up Andy Dalton at TCU, went on to offer Lynch and he was soon off to Memphis.

Since coaching Lynch, Fuente has stated that Paxton hasn’t topped out, and that when he coached Dalton he was as big, strong and as good a player as he was going to be – Paxton still has plenty left. He also noted that Lynch was very raw when they got him and there was a lot of work to do, but Lynch did the work that it took to get to where he is at.

Seems to me like the kid is pretty resilient in chaos, but what do I know.

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After redshirting his freshman season, Lynch fell knee deep into a quarterback battle with Jacob Karam who had won the final three games of the previous season. Despite public scrutiny, Fuente named Lynch the starter and, as you can imagine, it wasn’t well received once he racked up a few bad performances in that 2013 season.

As you can see, both, their media and Memphis fans’ Twitter game was strong, even nearly three years ago.

I know Justin Fuente has the Memphis media and fans brainwashed but the truth is Jacob Karam should be QB at Memphis. #FreePianoMan — Chris Vernon (@ChrisVernonShow) October 8, 2013

Really, 34 yards passing thru 3 quarters. Yeah this Lynch kid is really special. #FreePianoMan — Donald Parr (@deparr3) November 17, 2013

Both, on social media as well as in the stands on Saturdays, fans weren’t coy about letting their thoughts known calling for Lynch to be replaced by Karam. Despite seeing, and hearing what the common thoughts were on him around town and on campus, Lynch fought through it and maintained his confidence knowing that his teammates and coaches had his back.

After amassing only three wins in the 2013 season, the Memphis faithful were left less-than-impressed with the thought of Lynch running the offense for the next two seasons. Again, Lynch proved the masses wrong by leading the Tigers to a combined 19 – 7 record through the 2014, and 2015 campaigns. Attempts, completions, completion percentage, yardage, yards per attempt and touchdowns all increased significantly each year, while his interceptions consistently trended downward.

Lynch stood in the face of massive criticism, made the conscious choice to embrace the negative, put the team on his shoulders to lead a program towards success – which was legitimately on the brink of extinction – and he did exactly that. Sound like a kid that lacks mental toughness to you?

Now he’s headed to the NFL, and the same questions are rising to the surface yet again. So, now that it’s safe to say that Lynch is anything but soft, or has a lack of mental fortitude, let’s dig in to why he’s not only going to succeed in the league, but why he will exude everything that an organization expects from a franchise quarterback and possibly much more.

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You think Lynch may just have a rather large chip on his shoulder by now? Well, as if it couldn’t get any bigger, Lynch may just be part of a group of other signal callers who were drafted behind some vastly less talented options as it turns out.

Daunte Culpepper and Donovan McNabb were drafted behind Tim Couch, Jay Cutler behind Matt Leinert and Vince Young, Aaron Rodgers was drafted 23 picks after Alex Smith – and would likely have fallen out of the first-round all together had the Green Bay Packers not scooped him up.

Andy Dalton, though not considered elite, was drafted in the second-round after Jake Locker and Christian Ponder, while Tony Romo went undrafted while names like Byron Leftwich, Seneca Wallace, Kyle Boller and Dave Ragone all were drafted – and in the first four rounds at that.

You can even make a case for Matt Schaub channeling more than was expected in his career after being selected post J.P. Losman. Tom Brady obviously stands as the most disrespected quarterback of note as Giovanni Carmazzi, Tee Martin and Chris Redmon were all apparently more NFL ready than he was in 2000.

Interestingly enough, John Elway and Gary Kubiak didn’t feel that they could allow Lynch to get passed them, and it seems crazy to assume that a rookie quarterback could be any more fortunate. A head coach who has successfully integrated quarterbacks – sometimes shockingly – into his system making them effective throughout the season, and a Hall-of-Fame General Manager/EVPFO to help assist in his transition into the league should make, both, Lynch and Broncos’ fans alike pinching themselves.

Most may not be blown away with Joe Flacco or Brock Osweiler, but Kubiak did great things with both of them in very limited time frames.

Now Lynch is headed in to a ready-made situation in Denver, he fits Kubiak’s scheme like a glove and is insanely talented while maintaining his self-made attitude. I don’t know what you deem to be a quarterback who translates well to the NFL game, but here are some pieces of film – with brief descriptions – that feature what I’d be looking for when handing over the keys to the franchise.

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http://i.giphy.com/8wY1AYQBrFqo0.gif

Lynch lines up under center, uses play action and rolls out to his strong side. As you can see this is the first example of the ‘spider’ series in which Lynch pumps when the tight end in motion doesn’t maintain his level and crowds the fullback along the line of scrimmage.

The tight end realizes Lynch has not pulled the ball down to run and creates separation. When he does, the corner chooses wrong, and Lynch hits the fullback with perfect ball placement and timing despite being under pressure.

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Another example of Lynch under center making Jon Gruden extremely proud again. This time he’s given more field to work with and bypasses his fullback in the flat, hitting the receiver who came in motion on the banana route. Both options were open, but Lynch chose to be more aggressive hitting a bigger play maker on a fourth-and-one situation.

Neither of the above options showcase a drawn out play action sequence, but you can clearly see that he has no issues processing the field quickly after turning his back to the defense.

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Unfortunately for Lynch, this was somewhat of a common theme with his receivers (hence the more horizontal game plan). His pass catchers were better play makers than receivers and it hampered the offense against better opposition. Lynch drops it in between the second and third levels, but the receiver hears footsteps.

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Here you’re seeing max-protect up front, with double sluggos. Auburn’s defense drops seven into their zones, and with only one open option Lynch puts the ball where only his receiver can get to the ball.

The pass is incomplete, but the brains behind the natural ball placement shows maturity. I don’t know why you only send your quarterback two options out on third-and-eleven, but he did about as good as you could hope without making a major mistake throwing to a bracketed receiver.

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This needs zero explanation. Forget about the the play resulting in a dropped pass, that is some pimp touch in the back of the end zone right there.

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Here’s another one of the knocks against Lynch. ‘They’ say he rarely scans the field or looks off safeties. I’ll give them that he’s not often forced to, but when he’s not in a read-option package and takes a straight drop back his ball is money, and he does what he did in this situation. He pulls the safety to the middle of the field on the snap, then drops it over the linebacker and underneath the safety right where he was when the play began.

http://i.giphy.com/5tOlJMnVKVQD6.gif

This may be one of my favorites as well. Lynch rolls to his left, resets his feet and throws back against the field to the receiver on the dig route. Low and away from the four defenders in the back of the endzone, yet strong enough to where the receiver didn’t have to come back to the ball.

Now, backpedaling passers aren’t typically successful eight out of ten plays like that. Balls are tipped, thrown off target and can lead to disaster in the redzone, but again he put it in the most high-reward, low-risk spot on the field. Granted, he’ll need to work a better base out of his release, but that was pretty.

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This is about as ‘pro’ as you can get here, so we’ll end on this one. One receiver is bracketed at the top of the screen, his option at the bottom of the screen is smothered on a 12-yard curl and his slot receiver is running right into the coverage instead of sitting down in the gap of the zone.

Lynch scans from the top to the bottom settling for checking down to his running back, and gets it to him with some space still available to make a couple moves.

Now that you’ve read his story and have seen the overwhelming tools the quarterback brings to the position, you can perhaps understand why I believe Lynch is as ready as anyone in this class to start in the NFL.

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