When news dropped this morning that the Los Angeles Rams gave up basically two NFL drafts for the first overall pick of this years' draft, everyone knew it was for a quarterback. In this case, the rumor is Carson Wentz will be the number one overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft.
That move changes everything for the Denver Broncos.
Why? Because Paxton Lynch is going to go early. Much too early for the Broncos. I don't know which team will do it, but there will be a team that drafts him pretty close to the Top 10. Given the heist the Tennessee Titans just got from the Rams, none of us should be hoping for the Broncos to move up 20 spots to get a quarterback.
So that is how this trade hurts the Broncos. It hurts if Lynch was the guy you wanted the Broncos to draft all along.
However, Plan B and the part that this trade helps the Broncos could be none other than Connor Cook. Against ranked competition, Cook actually played very well in comparison to Lynch.
Lynch had a slightly higher completion percentage in those games, but Cook beat Lynch out in every other statistical category. He also outperformed many of the other players the Broncos might have been looking at.
| Player | Record | Att | Comp | Pct. | Yards | Yards/Att | TD | Int | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jared Goff | 0-13 | 536 | 321 | 59.90% | 290 | 7 | 24 | 10 | 128 |
| Paxton Lynch | 1-7 | 298 | 175 | 58.70% | 236 | 6.2 | 7 | 7 | 112 |
| Connor Cook | 6-4 | 384 | 213 | 55.50% | 271 | 7 | 15 | 10 | 121 |
| Dak Prescott | 1-11 | 441 | 260 | 59.00% | 246 | 6.5 | 12 | 14 | 113 |
Perhaps having Lynch go much too high leaves the door open for John Elway to land Connor Cook at a much cheaper cost overall.
You've got to love the NFL Draft!