Tim Tebow is a free agent after being released by the New York Jets and due to the media firestorm and drama that seems to follow him wherever he goes, no team is willing to touch him or give him a chance to join their roster yet and one reason he should be mad about his future prospects has to do with Donald Trump. Yes, that Trump. Hang on, we'll get to it.
Tebow has had to sit through the embarrassment of his treatment by the Jets, not he has to sit through even further embarrassment, as he has been given offers that are utterly laughable, including for an indoor football league in Nebraska as well as the Canadian, Arena and Lingerie football leagues. Even more, he has had to deal with Jacksonville Jaguars fans petitioning the White House and buying ads asking the team to sign him.
Once some Jags fans got furious enough about asking him to sign, another group bought an Anti-Tebow website title EvenIfHeIsReleased.com, echoing the words of David Caldwell, the Jags GM who said that in his first presser and has continued to say it. Tebow is a polarizing figure due to his success in college, his religious beliefs and the fact that he has a funny throwing motion, but facts are facts, the man has won in the NFL.
While with the Broncos the team gave him a chance to start and while it wasn't always pretty, the team won the division and an exciting playoff game against the Steelers. Sidenote, that playoff win may put Tebow in some sad NFL history, as he could become the second player since 1970 to start and win a playoff game and then never start again.
One of the biggest issues for Tebow is the fact that he simply needs time to develop and grow as a passer. The Broncos appeared ready to do that until some dude named Peyton Manning became available and that was finished as Tebow was banished to the Jets. Now Tebow can't find a team because of the drama and all he really needs is a place to sit behind as a backup and work on his mechanics. A good route for Tebow could be an alternate league, but the CFL and Arena league do not translate that well to the NFL and NFL Europe is defunct so that's out as well. So finally, here is the reason Tebow should hate Donald Trump and it's only four letters: U.S.F.L.
As brought up by Jeff Pearlman on SI.com, Tebow has a legitimate beef with Trump, as he is basically the reason the league is dead and that league could have been a place where Tebow could have played and started regularly while working out his quarterback skills. The league started 30 years ago and a number of college football and NFL talented players, coaches, personnel and scouts worked in the league, including names like Steve Young Craig James, George Allen and even Herschel Walker, the Heisman winner who joined the league on a $5 million contract. The USFL started instant replay and the two-point conversion and with interest growing, the league looked like it could hang around with the NFL, at least for a little while.
The life and death of the United States Football League was detailed in "Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?" on ESPN and basically shows how Donald Trump blew the whole thing. Trump was owner of the New Jersey Generals and after driving up spending on players, he supported the league playing a schedule against the NFL and felt that eventually a merger would happen. Long story short, it didn't work out and the league was dead. There have been talks of bringing it back as an NFL minor league, but that is still years away.
So Tim Tebow, thank Donald Trump for knocking out a possible opportunity to get your career back on track.
