Kyle Orton Contract Extension: What a Deeper Read Reveals For Denver

When we look back over all of the crazy things that have happened in the past two years, all of the up and down moments the Denver Broncos faithful have dealt with as fans, and all of mocking and belittling of one of the NFL's greatest franchises that has come from outside of the organization, today finally brought some level of vindication.

It wasn't just for Kyle Orton.

His one-year contract extension is, without a doubt, the best news Broncos fans have received within the past two years.

For one, I thought Kyle performed at an extremely high level last season.

I wrote an article in the summer of 2009 that speculated Kyle would have a better season than Jay Cutler, pointing out the richness of weapons in Denver, the better offensive line, and the fact that when you factored in his injury time from 2008, he and Cutler had put up comparable statistics.

With the exception of interceptions, which Cutler will always throw.

The opinion was extremely unpopular, but through the first half of the season, Kyle proved me right.

After that, he suffered another injury that put him out of the game for a short while and/or hindered his ability. Still even with the disturbing injury trend that was building up, I was of the opinion that the Denver Broncos had finally found their man (and thankfully he wasn't comparing himself to John Elway).

Up until the NFL draft, virtually everyone else felt the same. Sure, bringing in Brady Quinn threatened Orton, but that appeared to be nothing more than finding an actually competent replacement for Chris Simms in case Orton went down again.

After drafting Tim Tebow in late April, I was left extremely confused about the future of the Denver team. I have slowly warmed up to the guy, but still, I couldn't understand why Orton 's presence warranted us spending a first round pick on a quarterback. I thought it was Kyle's show.

In hindsight, if I was a general manager, I would have spent those picks on building up defensive depth or maybe drafting another round one wide receiver. We could have done both as the Tebow pick amounted to a second, third, and fourth rounder.

But now that the smoke is starting to clear and Josh McDaniels has shown the competition in the offseason yielded a clear cut winner, Denver Broncos fans can breath a bit easier. Tim Tebow will get his chance at a later date, but right now he is exactly what everyone thought he would be.

A quarterback project that needs time to develop. After watching him play last week, I think he is developing just fine.

But Orton, having received such a vote of confidence, is clearly prepared to push himself into the upper tier of NFL quarterbacks. I thought he was heading in that direction last season after shockingly outperforming guys like Tom Brady and Tony Romo.

If his offseason improvements have been as good as everything I've heard, Denver will be fine at his position for years to come.

For now, he is the man in Denver. He isn't going to be flashy but he will get the job done, and that gives hope to a much-maligned offense.

Expect this one year extension to turn into much more than that. Kyle is being paid starter money by the Denver Broncos and the contract is likely short because both sides are waiting to see what happens with the league's collective bargaining agreement.

After this, Tim Tebow could definitely still dethrone Kyle in time, but it will be an uphill battle. I expect Tebow to eventually start for the Broncos but it will be through a more traditional route involving years of learning and watching the experienced guy in front of him.

Josh McDaniels thinks he can win football games and the results of his offseason competition are finally over in the public eye.

The incumbent Kyle Orton, still disrespected, has won the battle.

Can the Broncos win games under his direction?