Arizona Cardinals believed Paxton Lynch was 'potentially a franchise quarterback'

There was talk leading up to the 2016 NFL Draft about whether the Arizona Cardinals would draft a quarterback, looking ahead to the time after Carson Palmer retires or is no longer with the team. Ultimately they did not, but they were prepared to.

In fact, general manager Steve Keim told Fox Sports' Colin Cowherd the team considered taking Memphis QB Paxton Lynch in the first round. He never made it to the 29th pick, as the Denver Broncos traded up to acquire him. But Lynch was a possibility.

"Paxton Lynch was certainly in the conversation," Keim said. "Now, whether he made it to us or not, that's a different discussion. But he's certainly a guy in this draft that we looked at and determined was potentially a franchise quarterback. And because of Carson's age, where we are with Drew Stanton -- there's no question that, for the future, at some point we need to find a young quarterback to be our guy."

They obviously didn't like him enough to move up in the draft to get him, but it sounds like he was high on their list.

After Lynch, the position just didn't work out. "There were some guys we liked, but at the end of the day, nobody that overshadowed those players that we drafted at those particular selections," head coach Bruce Arians told the media after the draft.

Arians mentioned they had a QB graded for every round, but they were gone before they had a chance. Arians is pleased with the QB room as it currently is made up. What this reveals is they didn't have Connor Cook graded higher than the fourth round. Cardale Jones was graded fifth round or later.

Arizona ended up getting Robert Nkemdiche in the first round. They do not regret that pick so far. But perhaps if the Cardinals never land their guy to replace Palmer and Lynch pans out, they might regret not being more aggressive.