If NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi’s latest report on Tim Tebow is true, don’t rule out the Broncos selecting a quarterback with the second overall pick in this year’s draft.

Tim Tebow, a first-round pick last year, was not selected by new coach John Fox. Most members of the Broncos who were there when the Tebow pick was made are looking to distance themselves from the choice, which is a classic way for things to operate in the NFL.

Last year, no one associated with the Broncos complained about the Tebow pick, thinking they were being loyal to the head coach, when in reality, not voicing an opinion or pretending you like a player is the highest form of disloyalty and disservice.

So Tebow is a man without much support in Denver, making quarterback a huge need. Can the Broncos be so focused on defense that they ignore an NFL team’s most essential position? Or will they feel like Kyle Orton can manage the game well enough to allow them to replenish the defense, something near and dear to Fox’s heart?

This isn’t surprising. It’s customary for a new coaching staff to want nothing to do with a young quarterback when they didn’t have a hand in drafting him. But I find it hard to believe that John Fox and Co. have already soured on Tebow when they haven’t seen him take a snap in practice, let alone a live game.

But Lombardi is a reliable source, so maybe the report has legs. There were many teams willing to pass on Tebow last April because of the project he represented at the next level. He was a great college quarterback because the offense that Urban Meyer ran at Florida was the perfect blend of single wing running and spread passing. Unfortunately for Tebow, nobody runs that offense on a consistent basis in the NFL.

It would be unfortunate if Fox gave up on Tebow before giving him a fair shake, especially considering he stuck with Jake Delhomme in Carolina for so long. (Delhomme was absolutely brutal in the final years under Fox.) But I can’t fault Fox for wanting to develop his own quarterback. After all, he didn’t draft Tebow – Josh McDaniels did.

If Denver does rid itself of him, here’s hoping Tebow winds up in New England. At least then Bill Belichick will figure out a way to get him on the field. Whether or not he can be a starting quarterback in the NFL is up for debate, but the kid is a football player through and through and deserves to play.

While Rick Dennison was initially favored to land the gig, the Broncos were swept away by John Fox’s interview on Wednesday and have decided to make him their 14th head coach in team history.

This hire makes sense on many levels. The Broncos finished dead last in yards allowed this season and Fox is a defensive-minded coach. After the Josh McDaniels debacle, they didn’t want to take another risk and you couldn’t get less risky than John Fox. He was the Panthers’ head coach since 2002 and during that span, Carolina finished with fewer than seven wins only once (which was this season, when they went 2-14).

But could the Broncos have gotten more blasé with this hire? Fox has already led a team to the Super Bowl and it certainly wasn’t his fault that the front office left him with practically zero talent to work with last season. But his teams were always the models of inconsistency under his guidance, making the playoffs one year only to finish 7-9 or 8-8 the next. He also stuck with Jake Delhomme as his starter for way too long, even though a blind puppet could see that Delhomme was done years ago.

He also isn’t a very good schemer. Giant fans loved him when he was the defensive coordinator in New York before he was hired in Carolina, but the Panthers always seemed to have secondary issues over the years. While pundits love to say how he “always gets the most out of his players,” I’ve never heard anyone wax poetically about one of Fox’s game plans.

What I’ve written doesn’t make Fox a bad coach obviously, but again – he’s the epitome of “meh.” It’ll be interesting to see what happens to Tim Tebow now and if the Broncos plan on going into next season with him as their starter. Fox has had zero success and limited experience developing young quarterbacks, so again, I question the Broncos’ choice here.

That said, maybe he was the right choice for the Broncos at this particular time. And regardless of my personal feelings about him, the majority of people seem to like him.

Hey, he can’t be any worse than McDaniels was, right?

“Black Monday” just seized its first victim.

Following the team’s 5-11 season, the Browns have decided to fire coach Eric Mangini, who had two years remaining on his contract. When the Browns hired him in December of last year, Mike Holmgren retained Mangini hoping that the success the Browns had at the end of 2010 would carry over into 2011. But Cleveland sputtered again under Mangini’s guidance.

There’s speculation that Holmgren will return to the sidelines next season to coach the Browns, but ESPN’s Chris Mortensen believes that he’ll remain the team’s President. If Holmgren does become the Browns’ next coach, he’ll install the West Coast-style offense that guided the Packers to two Super Bowls and the Seahawks to one.

If he doesn’t return to the sidelines, there are rumors circulating that John Fox is at the top of Holmgren’s wish list. Fox was informed last week that the Panthers, whom he spent nine years with from 2002-2010, would not renew his contract. He compiled a 73-71 record in Carolina, going 5-3 in the playoffs and reaching the Super Bowl in 2003.

There are many fans and media members that like Fox and believe he can succeed now that he’s out of Jerry Richardson’s claws. But I’m not one of them.

As I’ve written many times before on this blog, the Panthers were the models of inconsistency under Fox throughout his tenure. Not once did the team finish with back-to-back winning records and while Fox is highly regarded as a coach who gets the most out of his players, he seemed to be lacking in the Xs and Os department. His decision-making was questionable at best, most notably in his loyalty to Jake Delhomme (who was finished years ago but still manages to trick teams into giving him money) and his desire to see receiver Steve Smith get away with everything. Fox is also known for his defenses, but Carolina’s secondary was seemingly an issue every year. (That’s not all on him of course, but he takes a lot of the blame.)

If Holmgren doesn’t want to coach, he should handpick someone young and energetic. The Browns are a young themselves and they’re only going to get younger as Holmgren builds through the draft. Fox wouldn’t be an Eric Mangini-like disaster but maybe Cleveland would be better served not going the retread route.

The only reason to start 31-year-old Brian St. Pierre over a rookie in the middle of a losing season is to stick it to management. And that’s exactly what I think Panthers’ lameduck head coach John Fox is trying to do.

Fox announced Thursday that it’ll be St. Pierre and not rookie Tony Pike starting this Sunday against the Ravens. There were probably many reasons not to start Pike (he’s not ready, he had a bad week in practice, the Ravens will literally eat him alive) but there is one very good reason to start him: Why the hell not?

Nine years ago a sixth round pick by the name of Tom Brady became a full-time starter in just his second season when veteran Drew Bledsoe fell victim to an injury. I think we all know how that turned out.

It’s very unlikely that Pike is the next Brady but how would anyone know unless he played? Had Fox elected to start the former Cincinnati product this Sunday, maybe Pike would have surprised and the Panthers could have the opportunity to see him play more this season.

Or maybe he would have thrown four interceptions in the first half and St. Pierre would have played anyway. Who knows? The point is that the ever-conservative Fox decided against playing a rookie with upside so that he can start a guy that has bounced around the NFL for eight seasons. St. Pierre has thrown a total of five passes in just two games over his career and if any team thought he could be a starting quarterback, then he would have had an opportunity by now.

Fox is on his way out of Carolina, so maybe he wants to ensure that his front office won’t have the opportunity to evaluate players that may beat him down the road. If that’s the case, then it’s a pretty unprofessional move by Fox, who has done some good things in Carolina but has mostly been a guy that has gotten by via smoke and mirrors.

And actually, let’s hope Fox is trying to stick it to management. Because if he wants to land a head coaching job again someday, he’ll have to explain why he decided to start a quarterback with no future over a rookie draft pick in the middle of a youth movement.