Thread: Orton Still at Head of Broncos QB Depth Chart

Originally Posted by Evernight

You know you have an amazing QB situation when your best option is Orton. They need to tank the season and join the Luck sweepstakes in the 2012 draft.

The reason they're touting Orton is that they hope to get a high 2nd round pick for him that they might be able to package in order to join that Luck Sweepstakes as you mentioned. You gotta think that John Elway is drooling over the prospect of getting him as his franchise QB. Another Stanford guy who might make Bronco fans quickly forget the Cutler trade would do wonders around here.

The Denver media will have a field day with the "Can History Repeat Itself" angle. Another Stanford QB rides into town to restore the glory of the days of yore, LOL.

They don't stand to gain much ground this year anyway so it makes more sense to see what they have in Tebow than to attempt to go 8-8 at best with Orton. Whether they can get in a position for Luck or not the Broncos need to find out whether Tebow is an NFL QB, a RB, or an HBack. He's gonna play somewhere, he 's just too good not to, but where is the big question.

Like I've said before. As soon as they get their price for him Orton is as good as gone.

Arkush says Cards should trade for Orton and this is exactly what the Broncos are hoping for. The strong likelihood that there will be a bidding war for Kolb meaning that he'll cost at least a first round pick or more makes Orton, who may be gotten for only a second round pick, an attractive alternative for the Cards.

I know Hub Arkush has always been an Orton lover but in this case he makes a lot of sense. Orton is probably a better fit for the Cards and far less risky a proposition based on his experience and track record to date. The Broncos would trip over themselves to make the trade for the Cards second round pick as well.
Cards would be better off with Orton than Kolb

By Dan Arkush, ProFootballWeekly.com2 hours, 13 minutes ago




Let’s get right to the point:

Is Kevin Kolb(notes) really the best option as the Arizona Cardinals’ next starting quarterback?

Since late April, spicy rumors have persisted that Arizona was ready to pull the trigger on a deal with the Eagles for Kolb, who has been relegated to second fiddle behind a rejuvenated Michael Vick(notes) in Philadelphia but is considered by some league observers to be another Matt Schaub(notes) in the making — if given the right opportunity.


Kyle Orton's decent numbers were overshadowed by the Denver Broncos' porous 4-12 campaign.
(Getty Images)


Eagles head coach Andy Reid has stuck to his guns in at least requiring a first-round draft pick in exchange for Kolb, a second-round draft pick in 2007 who remains a relatively unproven commodity at the pro level despite a few impressive flashes here and there, most notably his three-TD, 326-yard effort (on 23-of-29 passing) in the Eagles’ 31-17 win over Atlanta in Week 6 last season.

Deservedly or not, Reid probably will get a first-round pick and more, with a bidding war quite possibly developing between the Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks.

Memo to Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll: You might want to reconsider that plan of attack, as you would be doing the Cardinals a huge favor you really could end up regretting down the road.

Enter Kyle Orton(notes), the best of at least five much better Cardinals QB options than Kolb in my opinion.

The new braintrust out in Denver continues to promote a spirited competition for the Broncos’ starting QB job in 2011 between the incumbent Orton and former first-rounders Tim Tebow(notes) and Brady Quinn(notes). But recent fan polls showed that more than 80 percent of the Broncos’ fan base preferred Tebow, Denver’s top pick last year, to Orton.

If ever there was the foreshadowing of a bleak future in Denver for Orton, it came during the best performance of his career in the Broncos’ 49-29 slaughter of the division-rival Chiefs last season in Week 10, when his career-high four TD passes and 131.5 passer rating ended up being a sidebar to Tebow’s TD run and three-yard score on his first-ever pass at the pro level in the same game.

Truth be told, Orton has been lost in the shuffle for whatever reasons much of his career despite numbers that merit much more serious recognition — especially when matched up against those of Kolb.

In 61 starts over six seasons, the 28-year-old Orton has a career won-loss record of 32-29. He has posted winning records in every season in which he has played except last season, when he passed for more than 3,650 yards for the second consecutive season and registered a career-high 87.5 passer rating with an excellent 20-9 TD-interception ratio.

Meanwhile, in seven starts over four seasons, Kolb has a 3-4 record as a starter with a very forgettable career 11-14 TD-interception ratio.


Kevin Kolb is expected to be the most sought after QB on the trade market.
(US Presswire)



Orton fares better statistically than Kolb in every major passing category except completion percentage (Kolb’s 60.8 mark is slightly better than Orton’s 58.1) and has been a lot better than average for prolonged stretches as the starting QB in both Denver and Chicago, where he was never quite the same after hurting his ankle.

If I were Ken Whisenhunt or Rod Graves, I would forget about Kolb and shift gears in the direction of Orton, who just happens to have reportedly spent a little time this offseason playing catch with Cardinals ace WR Larry Fitzgerald(notes).

And if Orton wasn’t available, Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck(notes), Baltimore’s Marc Bulger(notes), Cincinnati’s Carson Palmer(notes) and even Tennessee’s Vince Young(notes), who is being strongly endorsed by Cardinals DE Bertrand Berry(notes), all would be on my radar ahead of Kolb, who is not worth as much as he will probably end up bringing in a trade.

After the Cardinals opted for a running back (Ryan Williams(notes)) despite much greater needs in the second round of this year’s NFL draft and inexplicably ignored the offensive line altogether, I don’t have much faith in them seeing the light that Orton would provide at the end of the NFC West tunnel.

I have a bad feeling that a commitment to Kolb probably will keep them buried in the NFL’s most nondescript division.

Originally Posted by Evernight

A team would have to be pretty desperate to sign Teblow as an rb, especially when he has zero NFL experience. If he fails in Denver I don't see why any other team would bother. He seems like a white Vick with less speed.

If he plays RB it will be in Denver and then more as a wildcat type RB/QB. That will require a real departure from the offense the Broncos normally run but if they trade Orton and can't draft Luck it's not out of the question. The fans out here are absolutely wild over the guy right now. They'll show up to watch him lose as much or more as to watch Orton win.

If they do win the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes I think you'll see them move him into a hybrid Hback/TE/WR role. He's too good an athlete not to play somewhere plus he's an absolute choirboy character wise. An All American NFL Poster Boy!

Still think the neck beard really fit into the Bears offense