NFL Draft 2011: Denver Broncos Won't Draft a Quarterback, They Have Tim Tebow

The Broncos are not really considering a quarterback in the upcoming draft.

Not in the first or second rounds. Certainly not in the third round. Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert, thank you and we apologize for wasting your time. On second thought, you should be thanking us because your value has just gone up. Thanks to all the charades, you will probably hear your name called by the commissioner much sooner, and we all know that means more money. So you’re welcome! We wish you luck in the NFL. The Broncos have their quarterback, and his name is Tim Tebow.

And what a ruse it was, and continues to be! All that questioning of Tim Tebow. All that praise for Cam Newton. Our hats are off to you, John Elway and John Fox. You really had us believing it. We almost forgot that the goal, from the start, was to employ trickery and trade down to the fifth or sixth spot. In that scenario, the Broncos could still draft a marvelous talent, someone like Patrick Peterson or Nick Fairley, who are inexplicably falling in draft rankings.

What a perfect hoax!

I haven’t felt so duped since watching Kevin Spacey’s character unravel in the Usual Suspects. We almost lost sight of the fact that the Broncos have only six picks in the draft but could really use about twelve. And yes, we almost forgot that the team of John Elway, John Fox and Brian Xanders was formed with the specific goal of overcoming all the damage done by the previous boss. We almost overlooked the sense of urgency that there must be at Dove Valley knowing that the Broncos could have had a high fourth round pick, plus a few other mid-round picks, had it not been for some very deplorable trades in recent years. Those were all lost opportunities for a team that needs a complete make-over on defense, yet the Broncos need a quarterback?

Did we believe that you would lead us back down the Josh McDaniels path by drafting a quarterback in the first round instead of taking advantage of a strong pool of defensive players? For a moment, maybe so. And we hope you keep playing that game. We hope you keep people second guessing, especially the people in Buffalo, Arizona and San Francisco. Because if you pull this one off, a trade down to select an outstanding defensive player like Peterson, while adding one or two more picks, then the Broncos will once again be back to winning football.

That was the plan all along.