Why Not Trading Orton is a Mistake

With Matt Moore being signed by the Dolphins, it appears that a trade for Kyle Orton has fallen through, leaving the Broncos with no trade options left, unless they and the Dolphins revisit this move.

Sadly this may be the biggest mistake made this off-season by Elway and Fox. If Orton is not traded, it stands for major problems for the Broncos this off-season. First off, Orton represents a ridiculously large amount of cap space. By retaining him, we lose money that we could possibly spend on free agents we actually need to build the future of this team. (Brandon Mebane anybody?)

This also confuses the team. Everyone in the locker room knows that Orton is being shopped. They accept that. They have moved on to the Tebow era. Just look at Brandon Lloyds' comments the other day. People are sold on Tebow time.

But now, Orton is back. Is he going to be the starting Quarterback? Players like Lloyd may shift their allegiance back to Orton, and if that is the case, and Orton then is sat, it will create major unrest in the locker room.

Now I'm not unreasonable. If the reason a trade was not worked out was because Orton refused to renegotiate his contract, then this is in no way EFX's fault. I'm sorry to say though, that I highly doubt that is a reason the trade fell through. Orton if he was sent to Miami might have a chance at long term security in a contract. If he was offered that and opted instead for one year of $9 million dollars, I'd be awfully surprised.

The Broncos need to trade Orton for whatever they can acquire at this point. He is becoming too much of a liability and if we are going to cut him, which is still possible, we should at least get a mid to low round pick in return.

I like Orton as a player, but we need to move to the future of this team. That future is unquestionably Tebow. As John Fox said, we need a gamer. That gamer is not Kyle Orton. Best of luck to him on his new team. That's of course, if the Broncos can find him a new team.

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