Despite Tim Tebow's Success, Denver Broncos Should Still Draft QB Next April

Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has managed to exceed expectations since taking over the starting role in Week 7, leading his team to six victories in their last seven games.

They're on a five-game winning streak that has found them atop the AFC West, and if all goes well, the team should see the postseason either as the division champion or as a wild card entrant.

That doesn't mean the Broncos' quarterback issues are behind them, however.

Though the team has seen a great deal of success come from the option-style offense that Tebow is leading, helped along by the fact that opposing defenses have to start from scratch to stop it, it's just a matter of time until the wins dry up. And without another viable option at the position currently on the roster, Denver might want to look to the 2012 NFL draft to supply them with a plan B.

Teams have little time to prepare for a specific opponent on a week-by-week basis. They have to take the defensive packages installed in preseason and tweak them accordingly.

If Denver's opponents did not plan for the potential of Tebow taking over earlier this year, they likely don't have the plays in place to stop his unique style today. That's reason number one why the Broncos have had success with Tebow despite his shortcomings as a traditional passer.

As the regular season unfolds into the playoffs, and the playoffs end and the offseason begins, teams can start developing ways to counter the Bronco option, meaning that Tebow's powers are soon to be neutralized.

Once that happens, the Broncos are no longer a threat. Granted, they have a tough defense that should only improve with age and that defense has accounted for a great deal of the team's achievement over the last seven weeks, but without Tebow evolving into a more traditional passer, their offense is going to become one-note in a short time.

Broncos head coach John Fox has intimated time and time again that the current state of his team's offense is effective but not sustainable. Though Tebow's passing skills have seen some improvement as of late, going 10-of-15 for 202 yards and two passing touchdowns in his team's Week 13 win over the Minnesota Vikings, he's still completing just 47.5 percent of his passes on the year.

Completing less than 50 percent of passes isn't a way for a quarterback to remain a starter, no matter how effective he is on the ground. And once that ground effectiveness is neutralized on a regular basis, the lack of a franchise-worthy backup passer on the roster will produce devastating results for Denver.

Tebow is clearly the answer for the Broncos for now. But the NFL is a changeable league, with team's adapting on a month-by-month and season-by-season basis to trends on both sides of the ball.

That's how a player can rush for 2,000 yards one year and be nearly ineffective the next. It's why the New England Patriots had to shed Randy Moss last season and find a new approach in the air. It's why the Pittsburgh Steelers continue to draft high-level talent at wide receiver though they've been traditionally thought of as a run-first team.

Adaptation is necessary and change is unstoppable in the NFL. No team, no matter how unorthodox their approach, is immune.

Tebow's clearly proven that he has a certain, specific skill-set that has made him a capable starting quarterback. But he also has very serious shortcomings that could ultimately undermine his team's bottom line.

There's no telling how the Tebow saga will play out in Denver, and for that reason alone, they should be looking to add another young, more traditional, quarterback to their roster via the draft.

His unpredictability brings wins with it for now, but it holds within it some serious drawbacks. Better now to prepare a contingency plan than to be caught exposed at an inopportune time.