Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has already stated that he would love to develop a young quarterback from the 2016 NFL Draft class, and one quarterback that could be on the board for Philadelphia with the 13th pick is Memphis' Paxton Lynch.
The Eagles have reportedly "upped their offer" to quarterback Sam Bradford, as they are looking to re-sign him before he hits the free agent market, but it's not impossible to think the Eagles could still target a quarterback in the first round even if they do re-sign Bradford. Lynch only solidified himself as one of the top quarterbacks in this year's draft class with his performance at the 2016 NFL Combine, and is considered a dual threat that will look to use his feet to open up passes.
Lynch has drawn comparisons with Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota, and proved his athleticism at the Combine tying for the top performer in the vertical jump and tying for second for the broad jump. The 6-foot-7, 244-pound quarterback completed 66.8 percent of his passes for 3,776 yards with 28 touchdowns to 4 interceptions in his junior season.
There is some concern with Lynch though, as he struggled against Auburn in the Birmingham Bowl completing only 43.2 percent of his passes with no touchdowns and an interception. Teams are likely concerned given the fact that Lynch did a majority of his work against a weaker American Athletic Conference, but did show his ability to get it done against an SEC defense with an October win over Ole Miss in which he completed 73.6 percent of his passes for 384 yards with three touchdowns.
Bleacher Report's Matt Miller projected the Eagles to select Lynch with the 13th pick in his seven round mock draft, and the move could make sense as he will likely be the best quarterback prospect on the board after North Dakota State's Carson Wentz and California's Jared Goff. Philadelphia as well as multiple other franchises have met with Lynch at the NFL Combine this week, and he is expected to have multiple suitors in the upcoming draft. The Eagles are reportedly making a push to retain Bradford this offseason, but it's not out of the question to think the Eagles could still look to draft a talent like Lynch especially if they believe he has a bright future in this league.
