Why Drafting Paxton Lynch Is A Genius Move By Elway
This is a little noted aspect of the Paxton Lynch drafting, but it's importance cannot be overstated, and you know Elway was thinking of this all along.
3 years ago when the Broncos were crushed in the SB by the Seattle Seahawks 43-8, John Elway privately made a decision that ultimately resulted in a SB Championship. He was going to abandon reliance upon Denver's record setting offense and build a Championship Defense to rival Seattle's.
We know the story. He went out in FA and signed Aquib Talib, DeMarcus Ware, TJ Ward, Brandon Marshall and Darien Stewart. He drafted guys like Bradley Roby and Shane Ray. He fired his coaching staff in 2015 and brought in Kubiak and Wade Phillips. He created one of the best defenses in NFL history and won a SB.
Two years later (the fastest turnaround time from SB loser to winner in 43 years), the Broncos are World Champions.
But, there's another aspect to the Seattle success that few have noted but that Elway has not missed. They have managed their salary cap brilliantly in order to keep their defense together.
Normally, great defenses win championships, but in the salary cap and FA era it's impossible to keep together a great defense for long. Players want to cash in and get paid. Veterans want contract extensions for a lot more money. Everybody in the NFL is trying to dismantle the SB winning and steal their players. We saw that this year with teams giving $15M a year to Malik Jackson, and the Bears $7M a year to Danny Trevathan.
Seahawks Success Story: The Seahawks however, have been remarkably successful in keeping every single key player on their entire defense. They haven't lost anybody significant.
They did this by re-signing players a year early: Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Bobby Wagner, Kam Chancellor, KJ Wright - NONE of them was allowed to hit FA and get away. The core of their great defense is all under contract for years to come.
But how were they able to do this? The key was that they were paying Russell Wilson less than $1M a year on his rookie contract for 4 years. That allowed them to pay their defenders and keep them. Then after Wilson's SB win, they were able to give him a new contract for year 5 that pays him $22M a year. But, that was in year 5.
Elway meanwhile had a problem. He was paying Peyton Manning $19-20M a year. In 2015 he re-negotiated a reduced contract, but it was still $15M a year.
But, in drafting Paxton Lynch with the #26 pick of the draft, the Broncos are committed to paying somewhere between $9.5 and $10M total for 4 years, with a 5th year option. That's $2.5M a year.
Paying your starting QB $2.5 M a year instead of $16-$22M is a cap savings of at least $62M over 4 years! That means that Elway should be able to re-sign all his core veteran defenders over the next several years. It means they can afford to re-sign Von Miller (and I would expect that contract to get done fairly soon now that the draft is over and the Broncos are not going to be offering $7 or $8 M a year to Colin Kaepernick).
It means they can afford to re-do Brandon Marshall's contract next off-season as well as getting Darien Stewart re-signed. It means that if they need to go out in FA and get a DL and pay him $10 M for a season they could do it. They will have the same kind of flexibility to lock up their core players for years to come that have made Seattle such a successful franchise these last 5 years.
If the Broncos can coach up Paxton Lynch to be a good (not even great) starting QB over the next few years, that 5th year rookie contract will be paying dividends for years to come.
This is just brilliant cap management. Elway simply ran rings around teams like the Chiefs, the Cowboys and Browns who all wanted to get Paxton Lynch at the end of the first round. And he's secured the Broncos team future.
This is what he's talking about when he said "We don't want to win now. We want to win from now on." It's the kind of move that a superior franchise makes to make themselves a SB contender for years.
"John Elway is playing chess, while other GMs are playing checkers." -- Cecil Lammey.
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Originally Posted by BroncoJoe
