How far is Tim Tebow from being the Denver Broncos’ starting quarterback?

He now has to leapfrog both Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn to become an NFL starter.

In a move that has been brewing for days, the Broncos have made Quinn the No.2 quarterback behind Orton until further notice.

ESPN’s Mark Schlereth is reporting that the Broncos will use Quinn as the second quarterback Saturday night against visiting Buffalo. The Denver Post has more details on the switch.

Quinn and Tebow have been sharing second-string duties for some time after Tebow spent all of last season as the backup.

Quinn has shown improvement this summer while it appears Tebow has regressed. Just a month ago, it appeared Denver was going to give Tebow (who played in the final three games of last season) an opportunity to start, but a trade of Orton to Miami fell through. So has Tebow’s opportunity.

If this pecking order holds, it would be a stunning admission by the team that it simply doesn’t believe in Tebow.

This move was made shortly before the first home game of the John Elway-John Fox era. Give the new Denver brass credit as they seem to be more concerned with winning than appeasing fans.