Tim Tebow News: Why the Heisman Trophy Winner Deserves Just Once More Chance at Being an NFL Quarterback
Never before in the history of the National Football League has a quarterback (or any player) received such notoriety on and off the field without starting more than season's worth of games. Everybody has an opinion about Tim Tebow.
Ever since he announced he was going to enter the 2010 NFL draft, speculations about Tebow's future began. Many said his game would translate, while others said he would fail miserably. His first season in 2010 after being draft by the Denver Broncos, he saw little playing time only starting three games. Most rookie quarterbacks selected these days get at least 10 games worth of experience, many get all 16.
The 2011 Broncos looked dead in the water after starting the season 1-4. The starting quarterback was Kyle Orton and the team was on the road for a possible No. 1 overall selection in the 2012 NFL draft, the "suck for Luck" campaign. After Orton's terrible performance and the fans persistent Tebow chants, Coach John Fox had no choice but to put Tebow in as the starter.
In his first start that season, he would lead the Broncos to an overtime victory over the Miami Dolphins. Of course anything can happen once, but this continued. Over the next two and a half months the Tebow led Broncos would win seven of the next eight games and were now 8-5. The wins included overtime victories against the Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins, and San Diego Chargers. The Broncos would finish the season in first place in the AFC West and earned a playoff spot.
Certainly just making it to the postseason was good enough, right? In the first round of the playoffs, Tebow led the Broncos to an(other) overtime victory against the league's No. 1 defensive unit, the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the game, Tebow had 316 passing yards, three touchdowns, and zero turnovers. His passer rating was 125.6. Not bad for a quarterback who "can't throw." Tebow and the team failed miserably in the second round, but for a team that started 1-4 to even be in the second round, was incredible.
We must also remember that the 2011 Broncos defense was ranked 24th in points against and 20th in yards against. With a defense that ranked so far in the bottom of the league and a team that started the season off 1-4, how can you not give nearly all the credit to the quarterback that took over in game six?
With so many teams out there with quarterback issues, it's amazing they haven't contacted the former Heisman trophy winner.
The most obvious team that would benefit from Tebow's services is the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars are choosing to go with Chad Henne as their starter, but that may be a big mistake. Henne may be a more "traditional" in the pocket quarterback, but his statistics are far inferior than Tebow. Henne is also 18-32 as a starter in the NFL.
In his career, Henne has:
- Started 50 games
- 58 total touchdowns
- 62 Interceptions
- 75.3 Rating
By contrast, Tebow has:
- Started 16 games
- 29 total touchdowns
- 9 Interceptions
- 75.3 Rating
With Tebow being two years younger, familiar with Florida area, and having dominating mobile abilities, this isn't even close. Tebow throws a lot of ground balls and misses some passes. His accuracy isn't exactly Troy Aikman like, but which is worse; throwing an interception or an incomplete pass? Tebow plays it safe and doesn't throw picks. His best attribute is the clutch factor. In the 16 games he has started as quarterback, he has 8 game-winning drives. He plays his best with the game on the line.
Other teams that could benefit from him are the Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans. At this point in Carson Palmer's career, he's past his prime. Last season, Palmer only threw two more touchdowns than interceptions, with Larry Fitzgerald on the field. The Texans have Andre Johnson, but nobody can get him the ball. With Tebow on the team he would create more of an opportunity than Ryan Fitzpatrick.
In the end, Tebow isn't the greatest quarterback and you would have to change much of your offense to win with him, but it may be worth it. There's multiple teams in the NFL that would become better with Tebow as the starter.
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