Brady Quinn vs. Tim Tebow: Which Denver Broncos QB Should Back Up Kyle Orton?

This offseason has been an up and down one for Tim Tebow.

Towards the beginning of NFL trading period, it looked as though the Broncos were prepared to trade Kyle Orton and go with Tebow as their starter. Then the trade talks stalled and Orton began to distance himself from the other quarterbacks in camp. When I say distance, I don't mean in a personal manner—I mean he showed that he blows them away in the talent department.

Of course, that left Tebow fans disappointed. So how disappointed will they be if Tebow loses the backup job to Brady Quinn?

The organization that was once so dedicated to grooming Tebow seems to be heading in a different direction as Michael Lombardi pointed out in a recent article on NFL.com. 

It seems that Tebow doesn't fit into the Broncos system anymore. But the question about who should backup Orton is a complicated one.

There is no doubt in my mind that Tebow will remain No. 2 on the depth chart. But don't get confused, he is no way Kyle Orton's backup, and he probably never has been.

Tebow is No. 2 on the depth chart so he can come and run his goal-line offense that was super effective in college and proves effective last year in the NFL. 

Tebow is a fun guy to watch inside the ten yard line, and the majority of the time he succeeds at finding the end zone.

However, if Orton were to go down with an injury, Quinn would be the guy to replace him. The Broncos have zero faith in Tebow to lead them down the field because of his unorthodox way of play. Tebow's style works in short bits, but the majority of the NFL doubts it could work for an entire game.

That's why, despite the depth chart saying Tebow is the No. 2 quarterback, Orton takes the majority of the snaps with the second team.

All of it probably has to deal with an odd NFL rule dealing with the third string quarterback. If a third string quarterback enters a game before the fourth quarter, he must finish the game. The starter and the second string quarterback cannot play if the third string quarterback plays before the fourth quarter.

That means that if the Broncos wanted to use the Tebow package near the goal line, they would be forced to make him the second string quarterback to work around that rule. 

The preseason should make it fairly obvious that Tebow is no longer the heir to the quarterback position in Denver. The question will soon become, is anyone else interested in making Tebow their quarterback, or will he be stuck running special packages in Denver for the rest of his career?