As Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton nudges toward the completion of his current contract in his first season with his current team after four in Chicago, one of the big questions facing his current team is whether Orton will be locked up for the long haul.
And that reality apparently prompted a member of the media to ask Orton on Wednesday to talk about the term “franchise quarterback.”
Apparently, Orton believes that the term “franchise quarterback” arises only when the “franchise” feels a certain way about its “quarterback.”
“That’s all on the franchise,” Orton said in comments distributed by the team. “That’s all on the organization. That’s probably the only way you can decide that is if the organization thinks you’re one, then you’re one. I guess we’ll just wait and see.”
In other words, Orton believes that if a team makes a long-term commitment to a quarterback by paying him a huge amount of money, then he’s a “franchise quarterback.”
We might not be able to come up with an accurate description of what a “franchise quarterback” clearly is, but in the present context we only need to focus on what a “franchise quarterback” clearly isn’t.
Orton clearly isn’t.
Exhibit A, he has a career passer rating of 76.0.
Exhibit B, his passer rating for the current season is 88.2.
Exhibit C, he was a free-rope-when-you-buy-a-Christmas-tree afterthought in the trade that sent the true “franchise quarterback” (who might not be one, after all) to Chicago in exchange for two first-round draft picks.
And if Orton is looking for a big contract that would make him a “franchise quarterback,” he likely will continue to wait. Absent a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, he’ll be a restricted free agent in March 2010, and the Broncos will be able to retain his rights with a one-year contract offer in the range of $3 million.
And that would be Exhibit D.
