Despite the serious question marks surrounding Tim Tebow’s NFL readiness, many Broncos fans are ready to turn the keys to their franchise over to the second-year man out of Florida. As for incumbent starter Kyle Orton, rumors of trade talks between the Broncos and Dolphins have many of those same Denver fans hoping to get any sort of return for the QB who piloted them to a 4-12 record last season.
Orton deserves his share of blame for the Broncos’ wretched season, but he’s a better QB than his popularity (or lack thereof) would suggest. He threw just nine interceptions in nearly 500 attempts last year, and prior to 2010 had never had a losing record as a starter.
Orton struggled mightily with his passing early in his career (he averaged a paltry 5.1 yards per attempt as a rookie), but has improved steadily throughout his five NFL seasons. He’s no longer shackled by his unimpressive arm strength, and he’s raised his average every season, up to a high of 7.3 yards per attempt last year.
With his own fans turning their backs on him, Orton has a reasonable case for being the league’s most underappreciated field general. That said, he’s not alone as a QB whose performance and popularity don’t mesh.
One QB who can make a case for getting an even worse deal than Orton is Donovan McNabb. There’s no question that the 2010 edition of McNabb was a disaster, but after one bad season, he’s been consigned to the scrap heap.
As recently as 2009, McNabb threw for 3,553 yards with 22 TDs against just 10 INTs. If he bounces back this year in Minnesota, he’ll look like the steal of the offseason.
However, there’s another signal-caller in the NFC North who doesn’t even need to bounce back to show how underappreciated he is: the man Orton was traded for, Chicago’s Jay Cutler.
When Cutler left the NFC title game with a knee injury, the initial uncertainty over the severity of his injury led to wholesale ridicule of Cutler’s toughness. His reputation still hasn’t recovered, despite a later MRI that confirmed that taking him out of the game was the right move.
Cutler, in his first season under new coordinator Mike Martz, carried the Bears to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth despite being sacked more than any QB in the league. He threw for 3,274 yards and 23 TDs and cut his interceptions from 26 to 16, all while throwing to no-names like Johnny Knox and Earl Bennett.
Orton deserves more recognition for his tremendous growth as a QB, but no NFL quarterback has taken more undeserved abuse than Cutler.
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