Well, it’s official Tim Tebow has been released by the Jets, and is officially a free agent. If you thought any team was just waiting for their moment to pounce, this would be it. But here we sit and the most promising lead is an indoor football team called the Omaha Beef. There’s always the CFL though right? Well…the Montreal Alouettes, who hold Tebow’s rights aren’t exactly clamoring for the QB, though reportedly they would welcome him to the team…as a back up. And there in lies the issue.
Tim Tebow’s talent and name recognition are completely incongruent. Personally I’m still holding out hope for the former Florida passer, but if he wants to play in the NFL he needs to take a step back and take a good hard look in the mirror. Tebow is a gifted athlete. Even his worst detractors aren’t looking to argue that fact. The controversy is whether or not he throw the ball at the NFL level. Personally I think he’s a fine developmental prospect who never got the chance to develop. And what’s really unfortunate about Tebow’s story is if he never gets to play QB in the NFL again it will be in large part due to his supporters.
It all starts with draft day. I remember there being something like a 3rd round grade on Tebow, he had all te intangibles and if a coach was willing to work with him on mechanics it’d be worth it at that point. Instead of waiting til the 3rd round though, Tebow was taken when the Broncos traded back into the first to take him at 25. This immediately sets the bar high for a guy who projected as a developmental QB. Skip forward to Tebow’s second year when his fans buy a billboard insisting that the Broncos play him. (Truth be told, the way that season was going, Tebow may have saved John Fox from the seat.) It seems like all is at least relatively well, at least until Peyton Manning comes to town. Then Tebow hurts himself by choosing the Jets circus and their false promise of playing time and a special package over a return home to a shaky QB situation in Jacksonville. And really, it’s more the media to blame in New York than the fan base, but the circus surrounding the Jets featured Tebow as the main attraction and now no one can see past all the attention to the promising developmental prospect he was meant to be.
Basically no one wants to sign Tebow because they’re afraid of his fan base, and of his media presence. I think there are plenty of teams who would or at least should want to bring Tebow in as a back-up or project QB based solely on his skill set, but no back-up or project is worth the potential headache.
Right now, I think the ideal situation for Tebow is with either the Packers or the Patriots. Both are well respected organizations known for getting the most of out their players, and who tend to work well with QBs. There would be no controversy as to who the starter would be, and Tebow would be learning from one of the games greats. But I’ve realized the same fear of the fan base could grip these teams as well as Tebowmania was allowed to expand out of control in New York.
Say he does land with the Patriots, the team loses it’s first 3 games and Brady suffers a concussion taking him out for the 4th. First question, do you start Tebow or Ryan Mallett? You know who the media will be talking about. You choose Tebow (because God help you if you don’t) and you win the game. And now everyone is talking about how Tebow won the game and Brady couldn’t get it done and he’s too old and should New England just hand the reigns to Tebow? The answer is an obvious and resounding no, but the question will still be asked when it has no right to be asked. And then anything short of a Super Bowl victory feeds more flames to the Tebow fire. Could he have won the Superbowl when Brady failed? is it time for a change? Again ridiculous questions that should not even be posed, but they will be. This is the headache that is Tim Tebow.
It’s an obsession fueled by fantasy and it’s keeping a talented athlete from actually learning how to become a better quarterback. Tebow may never be as talented a passer as Brady or Manning, but I think he could develop into an average passer, and maybe even a solid starting QB with the running an intangibles he brings to the table, but he won’t be able to do it so long as people continue to believe he has already reached that point.
