Denver Broncos vs. Arizona Cardinals: It's Put Up or Shut Up Time for Tim Tebow

The debate over whether Tim Tebow could ever be a good NFL quarterback has been raging since the middle of his college football career. Now, as the former Heisman Trophy winner has slipped to third on the Denver Broncos depth chart, he is already being labeled a bust and is seen by many as having no future in the league. One thing is for sure, Tebow has a long way to go.

Tebow is only in his second year in the NFL, and his future isn't set yet. Last year, the Broncos puzzled many when they moved up to take the Florida signal-caller with the 25th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. That was much higher than almost every expert picked him to go. While virtually everyone agreed that Tebow's intangibles were off the charts, there were tons of questions about his ability to actually play the quarterback position.

As a rookie last year, Tebow saw action in nine games, completing 41-of-82 passes (50 percent) for 654 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. That gave him a quarterback rating of 82.1. He also rushed for 227 yards and six touchdowns on 43 attempts. He was actually pretty impressive as a runner, but left much to be desired as a passer.

This season Tebow has a new coaching staff to get used to, and they aren't the same guys who drafted and believed in him coming out of college. In fact, according to the team's current depth chart, they may not believe in him at all. Tebow lost the starting job to Kyle Orton and has apparently already lost the backup job to Brady Quinn.

While Orton has looked fantastic this preseason (104.1 quarterback rating), and Quinn has pulled ahead in the backup race with his overall command of the team's offense, Tebow hasn't looked improved at all. After a 6-for-7 performance in the team's opening preseason game at Dallas, Tebow has completed just 7-of-13 passes for 103 yards. He has no touchdowns or interceptions so far.

Thursday night, Tebow will likely see a lot of time in the Broncos' final preseason game at Arizona. Orton is likely to get just one series, while Quinn will likely play the rest of the first half. That will give Tebow the entire second half to show improvement.

Aside from improving his accuracy and learning how to get rid of the ball faster, Tebow also needs to be more decisive in the pocket. He can't just wait for guys to get open like he did at Florida, when his teammates were faster and more athletic than virtually everyone they went up against. The key to being a good NFL quarterback is anticipation and being willing to throw to the spot your receiver will be, not where he is.

Tebow's long, looping delivery and footwork have hindered his development as well. Both of those things need to improve.

Tebow hasn't show the ability to do that yet and he needs to develop that skill if he wants to stay at quarterback in the future. Otherwise the Broncos might try to move him to tight end next offseason.

It's time for Tim Tebow to show what he has, or accept the fact that he may never be able to play quarterback in the NFL.