Though he said two weeks ago that Tim Tebow will begin training camp as the Denver Broncos' starting quarterback, John Elway insisted to The Denver Post on Monday that any player the team adds this offseason -- including a quarterback -- will compete for a starting job.
"We will be in the market to find more quarterbacks," Elway, the Broncos' executive vice president of football operations, told the newspaper. "That's our approach with Tim being our starter as we go to training camp, that we'll look at free agency and the draft."
The Broncos haven't ruled out the return of free-agent Brady Quinn but practice-squad signee Adam Weber is their only other quarterback right now. Denver is expected to pursue a veteran backup via free agency and could, of course, select a quarterback in the NFL draft where their first pick is 25th in the opening round.
Tebow took over a 1-4 team in October and guided the Broncos to their first playoff berth since 2005. But he completed only 46.5 percent of his passes during the regular season and 40.4 percent during the playoffs while compiling an 8-5 overall record that included five second-half comebacks.
Elway told the newspaper his ideal quarterback is the "the big athlete who can throw the ball from the pocket."
"Anybody who comes in at any position is going to think they have a chance to compete," Elway told the Post. "Any free agent or anybody that comes in here when we start training camp is going to be competing for jobs.
"Obviously with Tim's reputation, if the guy is afraid to come in and compete for that job, then maybe he's not the right guy."
