Tim Tebow: Why Brady Quinn Should Get a Look in Denver

Much has been written about the Denver quarterbacking situation, what with Kyle Orton having struggled out of the gate and former first-round draft choice Tim Tebow having taken over for him.

Less of the talk has been about the third man in the equation, but Brady Quinn is likely to be added to the active roster Sunday for the first time in three games. That could mean that, if Tebow struggles against the Raiders in Oakland, Quinn could see some snaps.

It was Quinn, after all, who spent the offseason working on his game to the point where he was among the team’s most improved players during training camp. But when Orton started, Tebow, by virtue of his high draft position more than his performance, was kept as the backup, and that’s been bad news for Quinn.

He’s been either not in uniform or game-day inactive for 14 of the Broncos’ last 21 games coming into this week.

It was a somewhat infamous 2010 trade that brought Quinn to Denver, with the Broncos letting running back Peyton Hillis go to the Cleveland Browns. Hillis has had his injury issues with the Browns, but he’s been mostly productive when he’s been healthy. Quinn, on the other hand, has not thrown a regular season pass for the Broncos.

The thing is, Tebow is throwing passes, just not very effectively. He came off the bench in Week 5 and went 4-of-10 passing. After a bye in Week 6, he directed the Broncos to an 18-15 win over the Dolphins, but despite a late flurry that led to the win, he was just 14-for-27 passing.

And in a 45-10 loss to the Lions last week, Tebow hit on 18-of-39 passing for a season-best 172 yards.

That’s three games in which he hasn’t connected on even 50 percent of his passes, which extends a trend. He has just one of his five career starts in which he’s had more completions than incompletions.

It’s a trend that can’t continue, and it could well be time for beleaguered coach John Fox to let Quinn, a 27-year-old out of Notre Dame, have a shot.

It’s not like Quinn is a guaranteed panacea, however. The former first-round draft pick got 12 starts with Cleveland before the trade to Denver, and he was just 3-9. But if Orton doesn’t have Fox’s confidence, and if Tebow continues to flub his opportunity, Quinn starts to look like a decent option.