Tim Tebow is a free agent and many in the football world have wondered if an NFL team will ever sign him and this offseason free agency has been going fast and while no one has given Tebow a sniff, teams like the Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars or Tampa Bay Buccaneers could be fits for this season in a variety of roles.
Tebow has continued to prepare for his new TV role on ESPN as part of the SEC Network, but he has also said that he plans on continuing his playing career if he can and that he is working out all the time. Tebow said this offseason around the national championship game that he was in some of the best shape of his life and while he is no Peyton Manning, based on his past accomplishments he at least deserves a shot to make it in the league.
Tebow is a polarizing figure for many reasons, including his play on the field and what he does off of it, with his heavily Christian influence as well as his speaking engagements. This has created a crazy media environment wherever Tebow goes and while Bill Belichick did a good job of stopping that from getting out of control when he was with the Patriots, other teams do not have the same structure on their teams and like it did with the Jets, it simply gets too out of control. Many teams have avoided Tebow for this reason and no one can know whether that has impacted him from getting tryouts or even interest from teams.
Many have looked back to the trade of Tebow from the Broncos to the Jets and examined why the team acquired him in the first place and why the quarterback felt it was better to go to New York rather than Jacksonville, as the Jaguars were also interested in trading for Tebow when the Broncos shopped him. Back when Tebow was the quarterback for Denver things seemed like they couldn't be any better for the star, but once Peyton Manning hit the market, team president John Elway saw the perfect out. But Tebow proved one thing when he was with the Broncos: he could win in the NFL.
Tebow took over a 1-4 team and led them to a division title and the playoffs, winning some exciting games with fourth quarter theatrics in the process and he also directed an amazing playoff win against the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime. But soon after the playoff victory Tebow was shipped out to New York and while the Jets welcomed the quarterback with excitement, things did not turn out so well in the Big Apple. Head coach Rex Ryan said the team had a plan for Tebow in the offense with Mark Sanchez starting, but soon those ideas turned out to be just a facade, as the team barely used Tebow at all and he ended up with just 102 yards rushing and 39 passing with zero touchdowns. Things got so bad that the Jets jumped over Tebow in favor of Greg McElroy starting and everyone realized it was just a matter of time before he was released.