While former University of Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch continues to slide in the 2016 NFL Draft mock boards, his agent Leigh Steinberg is not worried.
Steinberg, who has represented eight a record No. 1 NFL Draft picks, said it’s not about what NFL Draft experts Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN and Mike Mayock of NFL Network think but rather the individual teams, particularly the ones that need a quarterback.
“My point is let’s say Mike Mayock had Paxton Lynch as his second pick in the draft and first guy on the board,” Steinberg, who has represented 60 NFL first round draft picks, said. “That wouldn’t ensure us a team would take us high, if it had been reversed. The game has become quarterback centric and there are a number of interested teams out there.”
The 2016 NFL Draft will take place in Chicago from April 28-30. Lynch, who decided to forego his senior season of eligibility and enter the NFL Draft in December, is still projected as a late first round pick by all five NFL.com analysts. Chad Reuter has him going No. 15 to the Los Angeles Rams, the highest of the five.
The former Memphis star came off his best season in the Blue and Gray before declaring for the draft, throwing for 3,776 yards, 28 touchdowns and four interceptions.
In his three seasons as a starter, Lynch accumulated 8,863 yards, 74 total touchdowns (59 passing, 15 rushing), 23 interceptions and many single-season school records. Lynch, along with former coach Justin Fuente, led the Tigers to 19 wins over the past two seasons, the most in any two-year stretch in program history.
“He’s representing the University of Memphis really well,” Steinberg said. “He has a real love for the school and a real loyalty to it. When people ask ‘He played at Memphis?’ Yes, the same Memphis which plays in a tough division with Navy and Temple and Houston and played some real quality football. They beat the University of Mississippi. He’s proud of Memphis.”
However, Lynch’s stock, which at one point saw him as potential top two pick in the draft, took a big hit following his performance in the Birmingham Bowl against Auburn in December. A game in which he completed less than half of his pass (16 for 37), threw for just 106 yards and one interception in Memphis’ 31-10 loss.
His NFL Combine performance also failed to boost his stock as his performance as he still remains behind quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Jared Goff in virtually every NFL mock draft.
Nevertheless, Steinberg said he is still confident his client has the highest upside of any quarterback in the 2016 NFL Draft class.
“Watching the way his teammates (at Memphis) respond to him and how he carries himself which is sort of one of the boys,” Steinberg said. “You get the sense this is a natural leader. There were a series of games where he had to come from behind this year. I watched real closely. Not simply the SMU game where he threw seven touchdowns in a half, but when there’s pressure and needs to come back because that’s how pro football is.”
While Steinberg added both Wentz of North Dakota State and Goff of California are good quarterbacks, he referred back to his original point that it’s not about what the draft prognosticators and media think, but what the teams think.
“I still think Paxton has every chance to be drafted very high and let’s suppose for the sake of argument instead of going No. 2 he’s goes No. 15 to the Rams,” he said. “Wouldn’t that be terrible to be the first quarterback in Los Angeles and spend your whole life in the second largest media market (in the United States). It’s way too early to get involved in these things, but he’s going to be drafted possible high and we’ll see as the process goes on.”
University of Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch.
