Please Hire Tim Tebow - Week 8

There are sixteen weeks in the NFL regular season, seventeen if you count the bye week each team gets. After eight weeks of play - tonight's game between the Seahawks and Rams notwithstanding - Tim Tebow is still unemployed. The last verifiable news we've had about Tim's whereabouts found him enjoying some family time in Hawaii.

Tebow (left), friends, and man-mountain in Hawaii

Since that time, there have been several key injuries across the league; most notably Sam Bradford of the Rams going down with a season-ending ACL tear. In the last week or so, there has been a lot of chatter - most of it negative - about Tebow's status with the Rams, Jaguars, etc. Almost every day there is an article on Bleacher Report, the Orlando Sentinel, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, etc. concerning the portents of Tebow contact, or lack thereof.

So what do we have this week to lift our spirits and give us hope that Tebow could still suit up this season? Today, it's the lack of news. The Jags and Bucs both lost and remain winless on the season. We won't know if the Rams' shunning of Tebow after Bradford's injury was a wise move until after their NFC West matchup with the division-leading Seahawks tonight.

At the risk of being obvious, here's a few prospects for Tebow, starting with the least likely.

New York Giants: The G-Men are 2-6 coming off a victory yesterday at Philadelphia. There for a while, Eli was looking a little shaky. The Giants started 0-6 and as I noted in a previous blog, the Giants would probably win out and it was very unlikely that New York City would welcome Tebow back. In making me look like a potential prognosticating genius, the Giants are 2-0 going into their bye week and will next face the Raiders (3-4) in a very winnable game. The Giants' remaining schedule isn't a cakewalk but it will be interesting to see if Coughlin can work his magic and get them to the playoffs. Although they are in the cellar of the NFC East, amazingly, the New York Football Giants are only two games out of first.

New York Jets: On the Jersey Shore is another team from (sort of) the Big Apple. The J-E-T-S Jets kicked Tebow to the curb after the 2012 season. Although many reports decried Tebow's lack of success after being brought in as the supposed number two QB behind Mark Sanchez, he wasn't even given a chance to perform. With a total of eight passing and thirty-two rushing attempts in twelve games, it's easy - for anyone with any sense at all - to see that Rex Ryan had no intention of letting Tebow play. I don't see that changing even though the Jets' latest savior, Geno Smith, is playing more and more like Sanchez every week.

St. Louis Rams: The Rams bypassed Tebow and went straight to top quality (sic) quarterbacks Brady Quinn and Austin Davis to back up starter-for-now Kellen Clemens. Last week's Tebow update highlighted Clemens' less-than-stellar career stats. I keep reading about how teams don't want to take the media circus and fan pressure that would accompany a Tebow signing. Seriously? When called on that, coaches and team executives always fall back on the tried and true platitudes of we're going in a different direction or he doesn't fit our offensive scheme. Whatever. With Bradford's injury, the Rams appeared to be a great destination for Tebow. I guess we'll see how well the triad of Clemens, Quinn and Austin works for them.

Jacksonville Jaguars: Another week, another loss for the hapless Jags. Not even a trip to the hallowed grounds of Wembley could shake a winning performance out of Tebow's home team.

Wembley - The Cathedral of Football

The Jaguars, it seems, will be playing home games at Wembley for the next four years. I suspect that has a lot to do with owner Shahid Kahn, who also owns London's Fulham Football Club of the Barclay's Premier League. Khan may not know much about American Football but he is an astute businessman and I can't imagine he doesn't recognize the business value that Tebow can bring to the club.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: I was very high on Tebow going to the Bucs, and I still am. But I'm not sure how realistic a move this would be in the short term. Tampa Bay's under-fire coach Greg Schiano could be on the way out the door any day now so it's doubtful that the team will make a major quarterback move without knowing who the coach will be for the rest of the season. Franky, if I was Schiano, I'd be pushing hard to sign Tebow. Many of the fans will love the possibilities and it could take the microscope off of the coach - at least for the short term.

About the only thing that keeps me thinking Tebow has any chance of being signed this week is the total lack of new news. When there is a bunch of idle chatter (kind of like my blog) about Tebow being signed, it's probably all pie-in-the-sky. But I would opine that, historically, when the wire goes quiet, that's when some honest-to-goodness, real negotiations may be taking place.

What do you think?

X

Please Hire Tim Tebow - Week 7

We are nearly at the halfway point of the 2013 NFL season and if you're reading this blog, you already know that Tim Tebow is still unemployed. For anyone who follows the NFL, you also know that while there has been some pretty solid QB play across the league this season, there has also been some pretty sad play as well. I've never said that Tim Tebow is the second coming of Joe Montana but only that I don't believe he is as terrible as all his detractors make him out to be. I have clearly acknowledged Tebow's shortcomings since he joined the NFL after a stellar college career at the University of Florida.

Perhaps Mr. Tebow is what I could refer to as a perfect storm quarterback; one that has to be placed in just the right organization, with just the right system, and just the right personnel around him to be successful. Maybe that's too much to ask but I'll state for the record again, as the weeks go by, there are quarterback and team performances across the league that cry out for a change; and as the treatment tables fill up in more and more stadiums, someone, somewhere almost has to take a chance on the former Gator.

Looking forward to more of this...

Latest Intel:

This morning I saw a report that the St. Louis Rams have discussed Tebow but probably won't be signing him. NFL.com has reported that Sam Bradford suffered a season-ending ACL injury, and that leaves Kellen Clemens is their lone QB on the depth chart. Clemens' career-high passer rating (60.9%) came during the 2007 season** with the Jets, where he completed 130 passes for 1,529 yards and 5 touchdowns. However the 10 interceptions and 27 sacks surely didn't help his cause. As today's news cycle developed there were many names being bandied about as quarterback possibilities for St. Louis...it remains to be seen if Tim Tebow has remained sharp and fit enough to impress in a work out, assuming he is fortunate enough to get the call.

** The only season where Clemens threw more than 100 passes

In any case, with no backup to Clemens and not even a quarterback on the scout team, the Rams have to sign someone...

Week 7 Tebow Opportunities:

Jacksonville Jaguars: The Jags are 0-7. With rankings for rushing and defense against the rush at the bottom of the league, you could make a case that what the Jags need most are decent offensive and defensive lines. Current starting QB Chad Henne threw for 318 yards yesterday on 23 completions against 36 attempts. That's not so bad, right? Except for the fact that the Jaguars only scored 6 points. As the weeks drag on in Jacksonville it becomes less about the quarterback and more about the fans just having something...anything...to get excited about. I still believe Tebow brings excitement to the table for those fans, and revenue to the owners.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: As the weeks go by and Mike Glennon continues to, well, not stink, the chances of the Pewter Pirates taking a flyer on Tebow seem to diminish. Glennon had another workmanlike outing yesterday and came up short against the less-than-overachieving Atlanta Falcons. The Bucs couldn't have caught the Falcons at a better time with both halves of one of the best receiving duos in the game on the sideline due to injury. Yet, it started like the same old Bucs as Glennon coughed up the ball on their first series and Atlanta ran that fumble in for a score. For the second week in a row, Glennon hit Vincent Jackson for two scores but it wasn't enough.

Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants: We won't know if the rot has stopped in the Big Apple until after tonight. Two franchises who have both appeared on my Tebow radar in recent weeks square off on Monday Night Football tonight. The Vikings appear to have played their hand with the signing of Bucs castaway Josh Freeman. Is it even conceivable that the G-Men would consider cutting Eli loose? You wouldn't think so but New York is a terrible town to be a goat in...time will tell.

St. Louis Rams: As I inferred above, it seems like the Rams may have leap-frogged Jacksonville as the city most likely to think about signing Tebow. Although initial reports indicate Tebow's name has been in the conversation, they (those scamps) are reporting Tim Terrific is not a viable option. I think St. Louis would be doing the fans a disservice. I seem to recall that another guy who was supposedly washed up resurrected a career in St. Louis - could Tebow pull a Warner?

Could it be Tebow time in the gateway city?

Best Tebow Quote of the Week:

Mike McCoy, the new head coach of the San Diego Chargers, when asked if he had any advice for Tebow, cut by the New England Patriots before the season and now out of the NFL, McCoy said, “All I know is the experience we had in Denver with Tim. We won games with Tim as a quarterback and we had a great time doing it. That’s all I’ll say on that.’’

Which NFL teams out there could do with a few wins and a little fun?

What do you think?

X