If the Denver Broncos had to pick a starting quarterback today, it would be veteran Kyle Orton, not youngster Tim Tebow, team executive John Elway said Wednesday on NFL Network.
"Kyle is still the starting quarterback," said Elway, a Hall of Fame quarterback who's now the Broncos' executive vice president of football operations.
Orton passed for 3,653 yards, 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions and completed 58.8 percent of his throws in 12 starts this season as the Broncos finished 4-12.
Tebow, a first-round draft pick out of Florida in 2010, generated some excitement while starting in the Broncos' final four games. He passed for 654 yards and five touchdowns on the season, but he also rushed for 227 yards and six scores.
"Tim is a very good football player," Elway said. "He's not a very good quarterback yet. We can make him a great quarterback. He's a young guy.
"When you look back a year ago when they drafted him ... he has all (the intangibles). Now we have to get him experience and get him the work to improve him as a quarterback."
Elway, no stranger to Super Bowls after having played in five of them, emphasized that new coach John Fox and his staff have plenty of evaluation to do at quarterback and every other position this offseason.
"Now that John and his staff are in place, they're going to have to come in and draw their own conclusions," Elway said.
