Kyle Orton Anyone?

As we all know the Vikings season is over and other than getting the team a new stadium the top priority for our beloved purple is to find a quarterback. Not to make a rash decision (please, this offseason has to run it’s course), but news has surfaced from Mike Klis of the Denver Post that the Broncos are shopping Kyle Orton. Said Klis…

“Tebow was almost the anti-Orton in his final three games: hardly pretty between the 20s, but his running ability helped him play well in the red zone and in the fourth quarter. Tebow will be the Broncos’ starting quarterback in 2011. Orton is too good to play backup, so he will likely be traded. The Broncos will ask for a second-round draft pick.”

So that begs the question… do the Vikings swap a 2nd round pick for Orton?

Orton has certainly matured since being a rookie with the Chicago Bears in 2005 fresh out of Purdue. He’s been a quarterback that tends to keep mistakes at a minimum, played in a wide array of offenses and sports a 32-30 winning record. Just this past season with Denver he played at a Pro Bowl level through week 12 and finished the season with 20 TDs and 9 interceptions. He also had a career high passer rating of 87.5, which coincidently was slightly higher than Jay Cutler’s.

Now a 2nd round pick would be difficult to part with, especially considering we do not have a pick in the 3rd round (see Childress Firing on acting alone cutting Randy Moss). However, Orton’s presence would allow more time for Joe Webb and Rhett Bomar to develop. You also have to consider that teams such as the Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins will be in search for a QB, so a 2nd round pick is not an unrealistic asking price. We then could spend the 1st round to snag a stud o-linemen or a CB. And in the event that we do draft a QB, we immediately have 3 at that position ages 25 or younger.

Bottom line… The Vikings certainly could do worse when thinking of other realistic options at the sports most important position. More on other possible QBs later, but care to argue with me now that drafting Ryan Mallett in the 1st is a better option? I’ve seen enough rocket arm QBs who throw game crushing interceptions to last me a while.

Jon Merckle may be followed on Twitter @thevikingpig