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Mediocre Broncos quarterbacks through the ages

Monday, April 6, 2009 at 1:11 p.m.

Mickey Slaughter played for the Broncos from 1963 until 1966, chalking up a completion percentage of 49.8 and a per pass average of 6.2 yards. Impressive. 1/10

Jacky Lee wore Broncos orange in 1964 and 1965, completing more than 50 percent of his passes each year. Too bad the team stank anyhow. 2/10

John McCormick came and went from the Broncos lineup. He has stats with the squad from 1963, 1965, 1966 and 1968. Career completion percentage: 38.6. 3/10

Steve Tensi played in the majority of Broncos games between 1967 and 1970 -- when, not coincidentally, the team lost the majority of their games. He had 43 career touchdowns -- and 46 career interceptions. 4/10

Steve Ramsey played for the Broncos from 1971 to 1976, sometimes as a backup, sometimes as a starter. He did less damage on the bench, and it wasn't until he was supplanted by former Cowboys QB Craig Morton that the crew finally began to reach its full potential. 5/10

Talk about a journeyman: Steve DeBerg played for six teams over a career that lasted almost twenty years, including two separate stints with Tampa Bay. He played with the Broncos from 1981 to 1983 before giving way to a certain John Elway. Who, from what we understand, marked a significant improvement. 6/10

Bubby Brister bounced around from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia to the New York Jets before landing in Denver just in time to get some Super Bowl rings in 1998 and 1999. When John Elway retired, the team was supposed to be so good that even Brister could maintain the momentum. Yeah, sure. 7/10

Brian Griese racked up some pretty impressive stats during his 1998-2002 stint with the Broncos. If only the team's win-loss ratio had been more noteworthy. 8/10

The third unexciting Steve on this list to play quarterback for the Broncos came to Denver in 2001 toward the end of a fairly productive career. Unfortunately, the productivity declined steadily from there. 9/10

I met Frerotte during the 2000-2001 time frame when he played in Denver. Really nice guy. Would I like to see him back in a Broncos uni now that he's skipped from Cincinnati to Minnesota to Miami to St. Louis to Minnesota again? Probably not -- but then again, what's the alternative? Oh yeah: Kyle Orton. 10/10

Mediocre Broncos quarterbacks through the ages

With the departure of Jay Cutler and the arrival of former Chicago Bears signal caller Kyle Orton, the Denver Broncos may be returning to the sort of lackluster quarterbacking that marked the team's darkest eras. Many of these QBs have been forgotten over time, while the lameness of others is forever tattooed on our brains. Here's a refresher course on ten of the least successful hurlers to stick their hands between a Broncos center's legs. Captions by Michael Roberts.

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