Does Tim Tebow deserve another shot in the NFL? Does it matter?
So it’s looking as if the whole Tim-Tebow-reuniting-with-Urban-Meyer-in-Jacksonville-after-nine-years-out-of-NFL-to-play-a-position-he’s-never-played-before thing might really happen.
Reports that the former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback had worked out for the Jaguars as a tight end surfaced earlier this month on the same day Meyer’s team selected former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft.
More reports came out Monday from multiple media sources that the two sides are on the verge of signing a one-year deal that would reconnect Tebow and Meyer more than a decade after they won a pair of national titles together at Florida (2006, 2008).
Tebow was a first-round pick by Denver in 2009 and led the Broncos to the postseason and a playoff win before getting traded after two seasons. He played in his last NFL game in 2012 with the New York Jets. He has been an analyst on the SEC Network since 2014 and spent five years in the New York Mets minor league system before calling it quits this year.
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf wasn’t a winner in the 100 meters at Mt. San Antonio College, but he still put in an impressive performance.
Meyer took over as Jaguars coach this offseason. Now it appears Tebow, 33, is joining his college coach on his hometown team as a first-time tight end.
Some current and former NFL players aren’t cool with that for a variety of reasons.
Still, it’s nothing new for former college coaches to sign a quarterback (or two) they had success with at the collegiate level, even if those players hadn’t exactly become NFL stars. Steve Spurrier did it with former Florida quarterbacks Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews during his NFL stint in Washington; Bobby Petrino gave former Louisville QB Chris Redman another NFL shot with the Atlanta Falcons.
It’s worth noting that none of those experiments were all that successful. But, unlike those other guys, Tebow won’t be coming back as a quarterback. Instead, he’ll be trying a position that some insisted he should have played in the NFL all along.
So maybe Meyer knows something the rest of us don’t know. Perhaps he just has a soft spot in his heart for the guy. Or maybe the Jaguars are just looking to sell more tickets to a town that loves some Tebow.
No matter what, they’ve all got us talking about the NFL in May. That can’t be a bad thing.
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