By now it’s widely known that Denver Broncos’ quarterback Tim Tebow was hurt in the second half of the Broncos season-ending loss to the New England Patriots. Tebow suffered torn cartilage in his rib and a bruised lung among other chest injuries, and yet he played through it, showing a toughness his teammates have to love. Yet if the Broncos are going to love Tebow as their starter over the long-term, the Denver Post’s Dave Krieger says the injury also shows the Broncos must address Tebow’s back-up.
Tebow’s development will continue with a full off-season workout and another year as a starter. But if something were to happen to Tebow, the entire offense has been constructed around a skill set which very few quarterbacks can match.
“The injury simply reminds us that Tebow is not indestructible, as he sometimes appeared during the season, taking the hits of both a running back and a quarterback and bouncing back to his feet every time,” writes Krieger. “It should be a reminder to the Broncos’ front office, if it wasn’t determined to address this issue already, that it’s dangerous to run an offensive scheme only one quarterback on the roster is equipped to execute.”
Brady Quinn is already on the roster and he could stick with Denver, but Krieger says the Broncos could also address the need via the draft with an option quarterback to back-up. Perhaps a late round flier on Georgia Southern’s Jaybo Shaw would be an option.