He is the man in the middle before the Broncos have run a single play in training camp.
He is not the incumbent, the one coach Josh McDaniels has proclaimed “our starter.” That’s Kyle Orton. He is not the first-round phenom with a bevy of satellite trucks in tow, livening up any slow news day. That’s Tim Tebow.
No, this is Brady Quinn, who appears to be the odd man out in the Broncos’ quarterback derby.
“Everybody wants to play, no matter what the position,” said Quinn, for whom the Broncos traded in March. “Of course I want to play. Of course I want to start. Nobody wants to sit on the bench. I want to play. I want to be the quarterback.”
With Tebow’s ballyhooed arrival and Orton’s status as the returning starter, Quinn’s offseason addition to the Broncos’ roster has been pushed into the background. But he wants a shot to prove he can be the man. He declares himself healthy from a foot injury that put him on injured reserve to close the 2009 season with Cleveland.
While Orton just reached his first calendar year in McDaniels’ offensive system, Quinn has experience with the playbook, having played for Charlie Weis at Notre Dame. McDaniels has called Weis his mentor.
And having gone through the circus that was the Browns’ quarterback contest, Quinn said he’s not fazed by the open competition here.
“If you’re a quarterback in the NFL and you don’t want to be the starter, you’re not going to be in the NFL for long, I promise you that,” he said. “But every room in the building is filled with people that want to play. That doesn’t mean we can’t work together. It just means we all want to play.”
Said McDaniels: “I’m just looking for a guy that can affect his teammates and make them better, and our quarterback did that last year and hopefully we’ll have more than one that can do it this year too.”
For Quinn, that will mean shaking off a frustrating tenure with the Browns, who made him the 22nd overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft. Quinn never separated from the competition in Cleveland to be the unquestioned starter. He needs to improve his accuracy, having never completed as much as 54 percent of his passes, as well as his decision-making, with nine interceptions and 10 touchdowns in 12 career starts.
Those are not the kind of numbers he envisioned through three NFL seasons.
“But without a doubt, I’m a better quarterback now as I move forward,” he said. “Even though I didn’t play my first year, I learned a ton. You learn by yourself a lot, how to adapt quickly and change, how to do what the coaches are asking. I have a lot of good football in me and I’m now in a system I’m very comfortable in, that I know in a place where I can compete. That’s all you can ask for as a player.”
Footnote.
The Broncos signed free-agent wide receiver Dicky Lyons of Kentucky on Monday and waived rookie running back Chris Brown of Oklahoma.
Jeff Legwold: 303-954-2359 or jlegwold@denverpost.com
