'Tis the season for speculation and misinformation, so keep that in mind while we start to chew on this bit of 2016 NFL Draft information from Tyler Dunne of The Buffalo News: at least one prominent Buffalo Bills offensive assistant coach is a big fan of Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch.
One draft nugget. Can't see Paxton Lynch falling to No. 19, but one source says #Bills senior offensive assistant Chris Palmer "loves him."
— Tyler Dunne (@TyDunne) April 26, 2016
Outside of offensive coordinator Greg Roman and the two Ryan brothers, Chris Palmer is perhaps the best-known of the Bills' assistant coaches; he's been in the coaching ranks for parts of five decades now, has been coaching offense in the NFL since 1990, is the former head coach of the Cleveland Browns, and also called offenses for Jacksonville, Houston, and Tennessee. He has directly coached big-name quarterback prospects like Drew Bledsoe, Mark Brunell, Tim Couch, David Carr, Tony Romo, Eli Manning, and Jake Locker, working with Couch, Carr, and Locker as NFL rookies.
The Bills have been linked to several different quarterbacks throughout the pre-draft process; Lynch's name is not among the three that reportedly visited One Bills Drive this month, but the team was at his pro day, and has clearly done their homework on him. It always helps when one or more people in a building are going to bat for you, and in Lynch's case, if Palmer is indeed one of those people, his will definitely be a name Bills fans should have in mind when the first round begins on Thursday night.
If you find yourself in need of brushing up on who, exactly, Paxton Lynch is, a good place to start would be Dan Lavoie's scouting report.