Thoughts on Orton / Tebow

So far for us Broncos fans, there has been very little for us to clamor about.  This biggest argument this off-season is "Who will start for Denver for the 2011 Season"  After the Jump, we'll take a look at my personal ideas as to who will start, who won't, and why things are being said the way they are by Elway and others.

Let me start off by saying that No Trades will happen if a new CBA has not been reached.  Therefore, Orton would remain with the Broncos through his contract.  If that were to happen, I imagine there would be a Quarterback competition with Orton winning outright to start the season.  Orton is the more polished quarterback, and there is not enough evidence to say Tebow is better than Orton with only 3 games under his belt. 

WITH a new CBA in place, however, that can change a lot of things.  It is my firm belief, that with a new CBA in place Orton WILL BE TRADED, and our future in Tebow will have begun.  Take a look at some of these pictures and references prior to quarterbacks being traded:

03/24/2009

"He's our quarterback," McDaniels said. "We're looking forward to getting him back. We're committed to him, and I'll continue to do what we can do to try to affect our relationship positively from this point forward."

Traded April 2nd, 2009

Now the question, why would the Coach hold up Cutlers jersey when the team is about to trade him?  Why would he proclaim that the organization is 'committed to Cutler', when in actuality, neither the player or the team were fully committed? 

Things are said for a reason.  Usually to raise a players stock for an eventual trade.  McDaniels holding up Cutlers jersey was stating that the team WANTED Cutler.  Typically, you'll get hosed every time if you DON'T want a player and you are fully committing to that fact.  Other teams will give you bargain bin ways of trading them.  If your team WANTS a specific player on their roster, and other teams do as well but can feel that a trade is possible, they will have to offer you a lot more in compensation.

Lets take a look to see what the Bears staff was saying about Orton prior to being traded to Denver:

''I didn't hear exactly what all was said, but Jerry believes in Kyle,'' Smith said. ''What Ron has said, what we have said, what I said five minutes after our last game, is that we feel good about Kyle. We can't wait to get him back on the field again when he is healthy."

Traded same day as Cutler, directly after an interview that Kyle gave to the Chicago media stating that he felt comfortable that the Bears had found a starter with him, and that his feet were firmly planted within their organization.

Now, lets take a look at Drew Bledsoe from his patriots days, and some accomplishments he had:

via www.patriots.com

 

Career GP/GS: (124/123); 2001 (2/2/7/7): Voted offensive co-captain for the 2001 season by his teammates … Started first two games of the season at quarterback, extending his consecutive starts streak to 34 before being inactive vs. Indianapolis (9/23).

Bledsoe enters the 2001 season ranked fourth among the NFL’s active quarterbacks in career passing yards with 29,257 total yards.

Enters the 2001 season ranked 20th among the NFL’s all-time leading passers with 2,504 career completions. He needs just 73 completions to move ahead of Phil Simms.

His 4,452 pass attempts in his first eight seasons rank second to Brett Favre whose 4,456 attempts are the most by a quarterback during any eight-year period in NFL history. Bledsoe needs just
46 attempts to move into
the NFL’s all-time top 20 for career passing attempts.

After just eight seasons, Bledsoe already owns the franchise’s career passing records for attempts (4,452), completions (2,504) and yards (29,257). He enters the 2001 season needing just 19 touchdowns to eclipse Steve Grogan’s career record of 182.

He has eclipsed a quarterback rating of 100.0 in 23 games during his career. The Patriots are 22-1 in those games.

Bledsoe enters the 2001 season with a 63-58 (.521) regular season record as a starter (3-3 in the playoffs). At home, he is 36-25 (.590) during the regular season and 3-0 in the playoffs.

He passed for 3,291 yards in 2000, his seventh consecutive season with at least 3,000 yards passing. He became just the fourth player in NFL history to ever accomplish the feat, joining Dan Marino (9), Brett Favre (9) and John Elway (7).

He now owns seven of the top nine single-season passing performances in franchise history. In the first 33 seasons of the franchise’s history, the Patriots only had five 3,000-yard passing performances by four different Patriots quarterbacks.

Bledsoe has started 17 games when the temper-atures were at or below
38 degrees. The Patriots are 12-5 in those games.

Bledsoe has started 30 games during the month of December and has an 18-12 record. The 18 wins in December are the most of any month of the season.

Bledsoe scored his first career rushing touchdown on a 13-yard run vs. the New York Jets (10/15/00). He added a 1-yard touchdown plunge the following week at Indianapolis (10/22/00).

Threw just 13 interceptions in 2000, a career low.

Bledsoe has been incredibly durable throughout his eight-year career, having played in 122 of 128 possible games since entering the league in 1993. Brett Favre, who hasn’t missed a game, is the only quarterback to see more action in games since 1993.

In 1998, he directed the Patriots to the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons. Before Bledsoe’s arrival, the Patriots had qualified for the playoffs just six times in 33 years.

Bledsoe became the first quarterback in NFL history to complete game-winning touchdown passes in the final 30 seconds of two consecutive games. He did so in wins over Miami (11/23/98) and Buffalo (11/29/98) to propel the Patriots into the playoffs for their third straight year. Remarkably, he was able to complete the heroic come-from-behind efforts while playing with a broken index finger on his throwing hand.

His broken finger in 1998 forced him to miss the final two games of the season and the playoffs, snapping a streak of 56 consecutive starts, longest in the AFC. Only Brett Favre (107) and Trent Dilfer (61) had longer streaks at the time.

Completed a career-long 86-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Terry Glenn at Pittsburgh (12/6/98).

In 1997, Bledsoe led the Patriots to their second consecutive division title for the first time in franchise history and took the Patriots into the playoffs for the third time in four years.

In the past seven seasons, Bledsoe has missed just three games due to injuries (one game due to a separated shoulder in 1995 and two games due to a broken index finger in 1998).

In 1996, just his fourth NFL season, Bledsoe guided the Patriots to an AFC Championship and took the Patriots to their second Super Bowl in franchise history.

In 1994, he set franchise single-season passing records for attempts (691), completions (400) and yards passing (4,555).

His 691 pass attempts in 1994 remain an NFL record. He also set NFL records for attempts (70) and completions (45) in a game (vs. Minnesota on 11/13/94).

In that game vs. Minnesota, he exploded for a franchise record by completing 45 of 70 passes for 421 yards and 3 touchdowns. Trailing 20-0 with 58 seconds remaining in the first half, he completed four consecutive passes to lead the Patriots on a seven-play, 48-yard drive to position Matt Bahr for a 38-yard field goal as time expired in the half. In the second half, Bledsoe turned in what has already become a legendary performance by completing 37 of 53 attempts (.698) for 354 yards and
3 touchdowns, without an interception, a sack, or a penalty called against the team.

In 1995, he set a franchise record by attempting 179 consecutive passes without an interception (10/23/95 to 11/26/95).

At the age of 23, he became the youngest player in NFL history to surpass the 10,000-yard passing plateau when he connected with Ben Coates on a
6-yard completion just before the half vs. the Jets (12/10/95).

In 1999, he fell just 15 yards shy of reaching the 4,000-yard plateau for the third time of his career. He is one of seven players in NFL history to eclipse that mark multiple times, joining Dan Marino (6 seasons), Warren Moon (4), Dan Fouts (3), Brett Favre (3), Steve Young (2) and Peyton Manning (2).

Prior to 1994, the franchise’s single-season record for passing yards was 3,465 yards. Bledsoe eclipsed that mark six consecutive seasons.

At the age of 21, he became the youngest player in franchise history and just the second rookie quarterback in team history to start in his NFL debut (Jim Plunkett started in his NFL debut in 1971).

At the age of 22, he became the youngest quarterback in NFL history to play in the Pro Bowl.

 

Read more at: http://www.patriots.com/alumni/index.cfm?ac=alumnibiosdetail&bio=119&cp

 

Would you had traded this guy????  I wouldn't have.  Although Tom Brady would have not become the Tom Brady of today, as he wouldn't have had the opportunity.  Hindsight is 20/20.  Still, Bledsoe's accomplishments are what legends are made out of.

Why did they trade him?  They saw an up and coming QB in Tom Brady, with intangibles off the roof and a desire to succeed at a high level.  Bledsoe was entering his 11th season, and while having an astonishing career for himself, it was time to move on.  The Patriots didn't need to say they wanted this player on their team, it was a given fact.  Nor did they say "We don't want him, who does???"  Buffalo paid a heavy price to get him, and the Patriots prospered from the deal.

On to the infamous Brett Favre (pronounced Far-ve):

We all know the story.  He contemplated retirement.  A bunch of he said she said stuff went on, the Packers offered him $20 million to officially go into retirement, Favre asked to be released to sign with whoever he wanted to.  The Packers declined and traded him to the Jets on August 6th 2008.   Brett twisted the Packers arm, and the Packers wanted to move forward with Rodgers as Rodgers was in a contract year, and they new he would test the market the following year unless he started.  The Jets hosed the Packers with a future conditional pick for a future Hall of Famer.  Thats when the drama started.

The point here is the Packers showed a weakness with Favre, and were willing to give him a large lump sum to stay retired.  They did not want to continue with finishing out Favre's career, especially with him wishy-washy about retirement.  Therefore, they only received a future conditional pick when they did trade him.

There have been a lot of great quarterbacks traded to finish out their careers elsewhere, however how the team handles them and how they talk about them is how they are compensated in a trade.  Teams that hold their players at a higher value will get a higher value.  Teams that don't value their players, will get hardly nill during a trade.

Without a new CBA, Orton is in Denver.  With a new CBA, well - anything could happen.  Orton is in his contract year, meaning next year, without an extension in Denver, Orton will be free to test the market, the team will receive nothing in return.  It would be ignorant to let a veteran quarterback that the team has no intention of extending a contract after the 2011 season to walk away and not try to get something for his services in return.  The draft is nothing but a big lottery.  Sometimes you win, most of the time you lose.  An Orton trade within the first 3 rounds, would give our chances of winning a greater percentage within this lottery.  Currently we are limited picks, however a trade with him would give us one more, or a rotational player that could help our team.

Elway is playing is safe.  He doesn't know if a new CBA will be here in time to trade Orton, and he doesn't want Orton's value to plummet because the team admits to not valuing him very high.  A player is only as valuable to a team as the team perceives him to be.  It's that simple.

In 1978, the Peoples Cult shocked the world when 917 people died in a mass suicide.  Don't drink the Kool-Aid - don't believe everything you hear that comes out of someone's mouth.  The Kool-Aid isn't salvation, it is death.  Don't jump off a bridge just because someone says it won't hurt when you land.  Don't take every word, word for word.  It is naive.

With a new CBA established in time to trade Orton prior to the draft, it will be done.  The Broncos will want something out of Orton in his final year with the team, and if they have to retain Orton through his final year, they will try only let Tebow sit so long.

Orton starting in Denver isn't about what is being said by our Front Office.  What they say is only helping the value of a player to the team.  They are not going to hinder that value.  Like every organization, they aren't in it for the player themselves, they are in it for what is best for the team, short and long term.  Orton, while a more polished quarterback, isn't best for our team long term.  Short term, what is he best for?  He's best for getting good value to our beloved organization.

Orton, as discussed earlier, is a more polished quarterback than Tebow.  Marino was a more polished quarterback than Elway.  Elway, though, was a winner.  Tebow is a winner.  Winning teams have players who inspire men around them to succeed.  Tebow does this.  The team has rallied behind him and abandoned Orton. The organization surely has seen that. 

This is why Tebow will be declared starter within the 2011 season, whether it's game 1 because Orton is gone, or game 6, Tebow time will begin this year!

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  I know I'm not the most skillful writer, but hopefully some people will see the points made here.  Everyone is tradable - however how much a team values a player determines how much he is worth to other teams.  In some aspects, its not feasible to attain a player.  Tom Brady, Peyton Manning are two players that teams would have to sacrifice too much, where they are not even proposed in trade offers.  That may change by the end of their careers, but it's not changing right now.