Like any NFL draft choice, Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch would like nothing more than to make an impact as a rookie.
But if the star junior is drafted by a team looking to bridge Lynch behind an aging, quality starter, he wouldn't mind spending a year learning behind a veteran, like the Dallas Cowboys' Tony Romo.
"You get a chance to sit back and learn what you need to learn and take care of your business off the field," Lynch told The Afternoon Show with Cowlishaw and Mosley on ESPN Radio 103.3 KESN-FM in Dallas on Wednesday. "I know if I got to sit behind somebody like a veteran quarterback, whoever it may be, I know that that would be a great learning experience to develop me mentally and physically in the game, give me a year just to sit back and see how you handle things professionally."
Where a first-round rookie quarterback is concerned, location is everything. The Green Bay Packers are perhaps the best example of a team that successfully chose a first-round quarterback to groom, with no intent of rookie action, in drafting Aaron Rodgers in 2005, to learn behind Brett Favre. Other clubs, of course, draft a first-round quarterback with no such luxury.
"I'd be more than OK with doing whatever was best for me and the team and whatever team I got picked up by. When I first got to school, I didn't want to redshirt or anything. I thought I could go in there and play, but I realized later on down the road as I grew up and matured, I realized that redshirting is a good thing," Lynch said.
NFL Media analyst Lance Zierlein projects Lynch to be chosen by the Rams at No. 15 overall, a landing spot that wouldn't figure to be one for an understudy. More clubs than not take first-round quarterbacks to satisfy a need.
For Lynch, however, holding a clipboard for a year wouldn't the worst of outcomes, and one NFL GM thinks there isn't a QB in this year's draft class who is NFL-ready.
Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter *@ChaseGoodbread*.