John Elway gets his QB, trades up for Memphis' Paxton Lynch

John Elway wasn't going to let another team snag his quarterback of the future.

The Denver Broncos executive vice president of football operations moved up five spots to select Memphis junior quarterback Paxton Lynch with the 26th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft on Thursday. In exchange, Denver sent the Seattle Seahawks the 31st overall pick in the first round and a third-round pick (94th overall) this year.

If Lynch's immense potential pans out, it figures to be a small price to pay for the defending champions, who have seen Peyton Manning retire and Brock Osweiler sign with the Houston Texans since winning Super Bowl 50 in February.

Elway brought in veteran Mark Sanchez, who will serve as a bridge - and, Elway hopes, a mentor - for Lynch. The former Memphis star was rated as the No. 3 quarterback in this class by NFLDraftScout.com and the No. 27 prospect overall. And Lynch indeed was the third quarterback off the board after Cal's Jared Goff went No. 1 to the Los Angeles Rams, followed one pick later by North Dakota's Carson Wentz to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The 6-foot-7, 244-pound Lynch is viewed as a tremendous athlete with very raw skills, and he likely won't be expected to play much, if at all, as a rookie while he learns the playbook and gets acclimated to the speed of the NFL.

"We're thrilled that Paxton Lynch is going to be a Bronco," Elway tweeted shortly after the pick was announced. "He fits what we do very well and plays the game with a lot of enthusiasm."

For the Seahawks, it was yet another move back in the first round for a team that entered the day having not made a first-round pick since selecting linebacker Bruce Irvin in 2012.