Update: Tim Tebow–How Can ZERO NFL Teams Want Him?
Update: Some folks got their wookies bent over the concern that someone could say something nice about Tim Tebow. Well, ESPN is now reporting that the New England Patriots are going to sign Tim Tebow. Yes, the Jacksonville Jaguars could not be bothered to sign Tebow to be a backup, but the uber-successful New England Patriots can. If Bill Belichick and I are the only two people who think Tim Tebow should have a job in the NFL, I’ll take it. The guy has had some moderate success in the NFL.
Tebow will never be a fantasy stud at QB in the NFL. He might not ever start another game. But, as we noted below, he belongs in the NFL somewhere. A project worth investing in. It is too soon to conclude that he should switch positions.
Original blog entry:
The Confidential gets that Tim Tebow is not a great quarterback. He does not have the arm or the accuracy or the intelligence or whatever. But ESPN the Magazine had an article indicating that nobody wants Tim Tebow. The Confidential cannot believe that there is not one of 32 NFL teams that can find a spot for Tim Tebow. It is just not fathomable.
The ESPN the Magazine article had this quote regarding Tebow:
But ask an NFC scout what he thinks of Tebow and the response is a gut punch: “He’s not a quarterback. When you look at his run two years ago, when you watch the tape and break it down, he wasn’t really doing anything that impressive. He’s a tough guy, a great leader, a great person. But he isn’t a good enough quarterback to have all the distractions that come with him.”
In the end, this is the formula that ultimately doomed Tebow: Fatal flaws in his throwing mechanics and his cognitive understanding of the position left him as little more than a wildcat specialist, a No. 3 QB or a long-term project. Thanks to his athleticism, work ethic and leadership, that still meant he was an upgrade on at least a third of the rosters in the league — after all, such QBs as Pat Devlin and Ricky Stanzi are currently on rosters. But in the minds of GMs, Tebow’s potential payoff would never outweigh the billboards, the parking lots full of satellite trucks, the endless QB controversies or any of the other distractions and internal conflicts he brings with him.
So let’s just look at this. Pros: Tough guy. Great leader. Athleticism. Work ethic. Leadership. Cons: Throwing mechanics. Cognitive understanding. Media frenzy. Distractions.
That’s not the Confidential speaking. That’s the article. Because the Confidential would add one thing–Tebow is a winner.
But just look at this stats. As a rookie, he completed 50% of his passes. As a second-year player, that dropped to 46.5% of his passes. But even as a second-year player, he ran for 660 yards. Good grief, he led the Denver Broncos to a playoff win. Want to know who DID NOT do that? The mega-stat generating Peyton Manning. Only Jake Plummer has done that since John Elway retired.
You can say all you want about Tim Tebow’s flaws, but the guy has been around for three seasons. He has started, essentially, for one season. Are we really holding the Jets’ debacle against him?
The issue is not that someone should give him the keys to the franchise. He needs work. He needs to be on the bench learning the game. Maybe being a free agent for these months will help inspire him to learn the game and spend more time on his mechanics.
It’s just amazing that NOBODY wants to roll the dice. Jacksonville. 2-14 in 2012. Chad Henne at QB. Know how interesting Jacksonville is? You’ve got to look these details up on Wikipedia. They couldn’t use the “distraction” of Tim Tebow. Guess what… if your starting QB cannot handle the pressure of Tim Tebow, your starting QB is not going to work out. Mark Sanchez–how did he handle the Tebow pressure? Poor enough to lose the faith of the Jets’ faithful. Instead, Jacksonville needs to use Henne, Gabbert and a couple of rookies.
Dallas. They have Tony Romo. His backup? Kyle Orton. You may remember him from losing his job to Tebow. Again, if a guy cannot outplay Tebow, why is he on your roster instead of Tebow?
And so on. There are plenty of franchises that could use Tim Tebow as a backup. Or even Tim Tebow as a project.
Again, the issue is not that he is not starting for a team. It’s that he is not even on anyone’s roster.
The Confidential 
Tebow is a winner. Say what you want about his abilities but he was successful with Denver. I’m not a big fan of his either but you have to give him his dew respect.
Yes, the only team in the NFL that is interested in Tebow has the Offensive Coordinator who originally drafted him to Denver (a move that was highly criticized and was fired after that season) with something to prove, and the guy who was behind “spygate” and now has the back-up qb of a divisional rival on his team.
If the knock on Tebow is that he does not know the position well enough, what good is he to Belichick? Also, McDaniels was fired during the season, primarily for his own issue with failing to report a videotaping. Tebow had nothing to do with it.
Instead it just comes down to the one guy in the NFL with the self-confidence & balls to run against conventional wisdom in Belichick. He let Tebow twist in the wind and get hungrier. Seen it before numerous times with guys who were “done,” only to have a few more seasons left in the tank in New England.
BB will find a way to use Tebow to his team’s advantage. Meanwhile, Jacksonville, Kansas City, and Oakland will continue to be turds in the NFL landscape. Too much fear to take a chance.
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Tebow isn’t done yet. He may not have the skills that a Brady or Manning or (insert any NFL QB here) but he is one of those guys who can will a team to win. Or was that playoff upset in Denver just a figment of my imagination?
The real problem is nobody wanted someone in their stable who they might be forced to play by fan pressure (as was the case in Denver). That won’t be an issue with the Pats, where everybody loves Brady.
It’s not an issue if a coach/GM know what they are doing and have proven it. The Saints. Colts. Packers. Steelers. Plenty of teams could have used him as a wildcat QB or merely on the practice squad to refine his mechanics–without having media issues. Ryan just needed a scapegoat.
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