Kyle Orton is a veteran football player that began his career in 2005 with the Chicago Bears. Since then, he’s played for the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs and the Dallas Cowboys. Now it appears that the quarterback has had enough.
NFL.com reports that Orton still hasn’t shown up for the Cowboys’ voluntary offseason conditioning program. The no show has caused some to speculate that Orton won’t show up this season at all and will instead quit playing football. If he does that, he will have to return $3 million of a $5 million signing bonus he received when he agreed to play for the team in 2012.
Of course, losing money isn’t the only reason that Orton would return to the Cowboys. In June, the Cowboys will hold its mandatory mini-camp in which a $70,000 fine is levied against those who don’t show up. If Orton doesn’t want to be fined, he will show up for practice at that time.
The Cowboys’ quarterback coach -Wade Wilson – isn’t worried though. He says the team is “still hopeful” that Orton will show up for practice. Wilson isn’t entirely confident though as he has a backup plan in the form of Brandon Weeden. Weeden signed a two-year deal with the Cowboys last March after playing with the Cleveland Browns for two years. During his time with the Browns, Weeden showed promise, but was ultimately benched in the latter half of the 2013 season.
Orton has more experience than Weeden, but he may not be in as good of shape as Weeden come practice time. If that’s the case, the Cowboys can cut Orton after June 1. For everybody’s sake, the Cowboys can only hope that Orton not only shows up, but brings his A game as well.
If you want to hear more of Wilson’s thoughts on Orton and Weeden, be sure to check out this video at the Dallas Cowboys’ web site. Unfortunately, there is no embed so you’ll have to jump over there to view it.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
