According to Jeff Legwold of the Denver Post, Denver Broncos executive vice president of football operations John Elway said that Kyle Orton would be the team's starting quarterback over Tim Tebow if a game were played today. Elway also said that it is not a given that the team will trade Kyle Orton.
Of course, as Mile High Report points out, trading Orton is a moot question at this point because there is no new collective bargaining agreement. Until there is a new CBA in place, no trades can be made.
And Elway's words are a play against the middle. If Kyle Orton wins the job in 2011, fine. The team has him under control for that one season and can use the time to develop Tebow. If Orton plays like he did for the first couple of weeks, good. If not, John Fox, Brian Xanders and Elway will need to make the move to Tebow before it is too late.
But this statement also tells us that the team doesn't want Tebow to be comfortable entering camp, knowing he has the starting quarterback position already wrapped up. This is the safe middle ground.
But, in the long run, this team still needs to create a defense that can actually stop opposing offenses.