Bill Musgrave sees Paxton Lynch starting as the next step in his development

The Denver Broncos - with a 3-7 record and dwindling playoff chances - are ready to see what they have in Paxton Lynch in these final six games. New offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave has made it his mission to get the most out of Lynch in these final six games and sees this as Lynch’s next step in his development.

“He’s definitely tall so he can see the field,” Musgrave said of Lynch’s strengths. “He can throw the ball all over the field with his strength. He just needs time on task. This will be good. This will be another step in his development of getting him on the field so he can get more time on task. You’re only going to learn from experience. You don’t learn from the sideline. This will be important for him.”

The big thing now is finding the big plays. Both Trevor Siemian and Brock Osweiler were limited athletically and needed to make most of their plays from inside the pocket. With Lynch, expect to see a little more misdirection and zone-read kind of play calls. Add that into play action deep passes and the Broncos offense could start to excel. That is if Lynch is accurate that day.

“That’s a fine balance,” Musgrave said of finding balance between sticking to script and improvising. “Young quarterbacks figure that out over time. Some figure that out sooner than others, so that will be a part of Paxton’s evolution out there on the field to know when to use his arm, when to use his legs and know when to find a safe place to ditch it.”

There is dynamic playmaking ability here, but it really does all depend on how accurate and consistent Lynch can be throwing the ball. He looked like Tim Tebow in his last start against the Jacksonville Jaguars late last season, so if he is throwing like that it will be hard to find points.

Lynch, as a young player who has struggled to earn playing time, is going to need a lot of coaching up. When asked what kind of coaching Lynch responds best to, Musgrave alluded that the kid prefers the direct kind.

“I think Paxton responds best to direct coaching,” Musgrave said. “He gets coached hard by Klint [Kubiak] and myself, and he responds to that. I enjoy working with him. He looks you in the eye. He listens. He goes out and applies it. That’s all you can ask for.”

I like hearing that. The ho hum guys rarely make great leaders. It’s the intense ones that make great leaders. Lynch hasn’t really showed an intense side of him, as its his goofy persona that makes the social media rounds. However, if he matures and what Musgrave says here is true, he has leadership traits you would want in a starting quarterback.

The big question is... can he play quarterback or is he another Tebow? We will start to find out this weekend against the Oakland Raiders.