Tim Tebow won’t be a starter in CFL, Montreal Alouettes GM says

With Tim Tebow now out of a job as an NFL quarterback, many people seem to think that the Canadian Football League would be an ideal place for the former Heisman Trophy winner to resurrect his football career.

All three Tribune Co. writers who responded to the question “Where will Tim Tebow play next?” on Monday, the day Tebow was released by the New York Jets, said the CFL would be his best bet.

Turns out that might not be much of an option either. The Montreal Alouettes own Tebow’s exclusive CFL negotiating rights, and their general manager seems to be in no hurry to make room on his roster for the popular American quarterback.

“We have quarterbacks under contract,” Jim Popp told the Montreal Gazette. “We’re going to camp in a month. We’ve got a starting quarterback. I’m not out there enticing or trying to convince [Tebow] to come to Montreal because he’s [not] going to be a starting quarterback. He would be coming to Montreal to be a backup player ... to learn the game and, maybe, in the future, he’ll be able to compete for a starting job.”

Veteran Anthony Calvillo is the established starter for the Alouettes, and John Neiswander and Quinton Porter already are in line to compete for the backup position in training camp.

The notion out there is that the CFL, with its wider fields, may be more suited for a quarterback like Tebow, who is a great runner but struggles passing. But Popp said Tebow might not fit in the CFL.

“With the field wider and his ability to run, it gives him an advantage,” he said. “But you still have to be able to throw the ball to have the best chance to win. Until we ever have him, I don’t know what he’s capable of doing or if he can play in the CFL.”

Popp added that the Alouettes have no plans to try to contact Tebow at this time -- and that the quarterback has not reached out to them either.

Tebow’s only public comment since being released came via Twitter:

Now it just looks like that path probably won’t be leading to Canada.

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