While I agree with the New York Jets’ decision to release Tim Tebow, I find it hard to believe that his days as a quarterback in the National Football League are over. Although he’s still a work in progress, Tebow could be an asset to the right franchise.
I don’t buy into the so-called conventional wisdom that says that Tebow doesn’t have what it takes to be an NFL quarterback. Sure, his mechanics need a lot of work, but the same holds true for many other signal callers in the league. At the end of the day, the only metric that matters for a quarterback is whether he gets the job done on the field or not.
Based on what he’s accomplished during his brief career, he deserves to get another look from an NFL team.
Let’s be honest: Tebow played well when he actually got the opportunity. In 2011, the Denver Broncos went 7-4 during the regular season with Tebow under center, sparking the team to a division title. Tebow was especially tough when the game was on the line, leading the team to five fourth-quarter comebacks that season.
More importantly, he also came up big in the playoffs. In his first postseason start, he put up arguably the finest game of his professional career, torching a very good Pittsburgh Steelers defense for 316 yards on just 10 completions.
In other words, Tebow has as many career playoff wins as Matt Ryan and did something that Peyton Manning failed to do — win a home playoff game in Denver.
Make no mistake about it: Tebow isn’t anywhere as good as these two elite signal callers.
But the fact that he’s reached milestones that two of the NFL’s top field generals have struggled to get to ought to silence any critics who don’t think that he can get the job done at the game’s highest level. With a little more seasoning, there’s no reason why he couldn’t become a productive triggerman.
Even if he were not ready to be a starter in the league just yet, teams would still be wise to take a chance on Tebow. After all, they know that he will show up ready for work each day actively seeking ways to improve his craft, since this could be his final chance to show what he’s capable of. More importantly, a prospective employer wouldn’t have to worry about him having any off-the-field issues, which makes him a safer investment than some of the other reclamation projects across the league.
Who wouldn’t want a guy like that in the clubhouse?
According to most of the reports in the media, there aren’t a lot of takers. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone gives him the opportunity to prove himself.
is a football writer for Rant Sports and a member of the Football Writers Association of America. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and/or Google+
