Kyle Orton Trade Rumors: Is His Career over If He Doesn't Get Traded?

The latest rumors suggest that Kyle Orton’s salary may have been the only thing preventing a trade to the Miami Dolphins this week. If the Broncos are so willing to deal Orton, will the apparent failure of that deal spell the end of Orton’s career as an NFL starter?

Recent reports suggest that the rumors of the death of Orton’s career may be greatly exaggerated. As the Denver Post notes, Orton got 100 percent of the snaps with the first-team offense in Monday’s practice, hardly a likely move if Tim Tebow is being handed the offense for this season.

Additionally, even if Tebow does take over the starting job by year’s end, Orton is a free agent next summer. The Dolphins might well give him another look if they haven’t found a long-term solution by then, but several other teams might be interested in Orton as well.

Despite the debacle that was Denver’s 2010 season, Orton has shown himself to be a fine NFL quarterback with the Broncos. He’s recorded back-to-back 3,500 yard seasons while improving his TD-to-INT ratio to better than 2:1.

Penalizing Orton for not winning with a team that had the league’s worst defense and a shaky running game is missing the point. No, Orton wasn’t good enough to overcome Denver’s problems, but he also wasn’t a primary cause of them.

After all, is it really a good bet that Brandon Lloyd will return to the Pro Bowl this season if Tebow is the one trying to get the ball to him?

Despite the addition of ultra-talented Von Miller and the presumed return from injury of Elvis Dumervil, the Broncos will have plenty of issues on the defensive side of the ball. As such, it’s entirely possible that the team will tank once again, regardless of Orton’s performance.

If that happens, it’s likely that Orton’s career as a Bronco will be finished, especially if the team does badly enough to land one of the top two draft picks (likely to be spent on QBs Andrew Luck and Matt Barkley).

Orton's NFL career, however, has plenty of life left in it. It would be a mistake to write him off based on Denver’s record in 2010, or even in 2011.