Jake Plummer knows Gary Kubiak’s offense as well as anybody. When the former Arizona State standout signed with the Denver Broncos in 2003, Kubiak was calling the plays as offensive coordinator and the the pair thrived together.

Under Kubiak, Plummer put up career numbers and even held the highest winning percentage by a QB in team history, before “the Sheriff” rolled into town and broke nearly every record in the book. Known in his playing days as “Jake the snake”, Plummer excelled in the rollout offense.

As a mobile QB, Plummer was able to transform his game under Kubiak and make major adjustments. In a recent article published by ESPN, Plummer talked about the transitions he had to make in Denver. Plummer also weighed in on the current Broncos QB competition and more specifically first-round draft pick Paxton Lynch.

“I hope that people are patient, not only with his development, but with wanting to push him out there too soon,” Plummer said, according to ESPN’s Jeff Legwold. “If they do it right, and I can’t imagine (John) Elway and (Kubiak) not having some kind of master plan in working him along in the right way, they have a guy with a huge future. And with Sanchez there you’ve got a guy that’s highly capable of running the system. But coming from where Paxton is coming from to what he’ll do with the Broncos, he’s got some work to do.”

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With Lynch, Sanchez and Trevor Siemian all currently competing to be the team’s starter against Carolina week-1, it is unknown when the first-round draft pick will make his debut in the orange and blue, but Plummer hopes the team gives Lynch time, rather than forcing him out prematurely.

Every QB has bumps in the road to becoming an NFL starter, but in Lynch’s situation will be night and day from what he experienced at the University of Memphis. At the collegiate level, Lynch took every snap out of the shotgun and did not call plays in the huddle, both of which he will have to do in the NFL.

“I mean everybody talks, you don’t need to call plays from Pop Warner on to get it,” Plummer said. “But play calls will be different, and in a West Coast-type offense they are a little more wordy than some others. The good thing is the call works you through what everybody’s doing, but he’ll have get used to all of those concepts, the variations, and be ready to do that at game speed.”

Along with adjusting to the pace and flow of the game at the next level, Plummer knows Lynch will have to improve his footwork, something the former Broncos QB struggled with himself.

“The key for me, for Paxton, or anybody is just to get to point where you play with a quiet mind and not counting, that you just feel it and throw,” Plummer said. “For a young guy that’s just a lot of reps — a lot — not throw, just drop back, over and over.”

Lynch has the intangibles to exceed but he certainly has a long road of improvement and development ahead of him. There have been plenty of examples of quarterbacks that were forced into starting situations prematurely.

Plummer knows firsthand the difficulty of adjusting to Kubiak’s offense and hopes that Lynch is given the time necessary to develop into a legitimate NFL starter. Broncos fans just hope to see more win’s than losses this season, no matter who is starting under center.