The New England Patriots released Tim Tebow on Saturday, and he’s now free to sign with any NFL team he wants to, or even retire from the NFL and pursue other dreams.
Not many NFL analysts think Tebow will retire, and I certainly would be surprised if that was his final decision. Tebow is only 26, and is still in great shape physically. He’s a great athlete with passion for and knowledge of the game.
Though Tebow was in NFL Purgatory in 2012 (yes, New York Jets fans, I’m talking about your team) and saw almost no playing time behind Mark Sanchez (or Fu Manchez or the Sanchise, whatever), he did have an amazing 2011 season with the Denver Broncos.
The Broncos started off 2011 with a 1-3 record, and were losing 23-10 at half time against the San Diego Chargers before Tebow replaced Kyle Orton as the starter in the second half. Tebow was a little rusty, but then scored twice and almost led the Broncos from a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit before ultimately losing 29-24.
Tebow stayed under center in the next game, and from there, Tebow’s career looked like it was taking off. The Broncos went on to win seven of their next eleven games, and Tebow helped Denver win their first-round playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers before eventually losing to the Patriots in the second round.
Tebow had a 7-4 record as a starter that regular season. He accounted for over 2,000 combined yards passing and rushing, and had 18 total touchdowns with only 13 total turnovers. In the 2011 postseason, he went 1-1 as a starter with over 500 total yards, three total touchdowns and one fumble.
Even so, Tebow doesn’t have the mechanics to be an NFL quarterback, and so far he hasn’t tried to play at a position that he might excel at such as running back, tight end or slot receiver. Because of this, not many teams should be interested in him as a player; chief among them is the Houston Texans. Here are five reasons why the Texans will stay as far away from him as possible.
Cooper Welch is a Houston Texans writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @cooperwelch1991, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
The Houston Texans already have a good starting quarterback in Matt Schaub and two extremely good backup options in T. J. Yates and Case Keenum.
Tebow's stats don't even come close to comparing to Schaub's, as the veteran has significantly more experience, fewer turnovers, a better completion percentage and more touchdowns.
In regular season games, Yates and Tebow are close on paper. Tebow has the better record (8-5 to Yates' 4-4) and more touchdowns (14 to Yates' 4), but Yates has the better 2011 QBR (45.8 to Tebow's 29.9), fewer turnovers (10 to Tebow's 14) and a higher completion percentage (61.2 to Tebow's 46.5).
There isn't an NFL comparison we can make between Tebow and Keenum, but we can take a look back at their college careers.
Tebow was ridiculous in college, winning the Heisman Trophy in 2007. He was also a part of the Florida Gators 2006 and 2008 BCS championship teams. He put up 9,285 yards passing with 88 touchdowns and just 16 interceptions, and ran for another 2,947 yards with 57 touchdowns and just six fumbles.
Keenum was also pretty good in college, competing in the Heisman Trophy races in 2008, 2009 and 2011. He led the Houston Cougars to an 8-5 record in 2008, 10-4 in 2009 and 13-1 in 2011. He passed for 19,217 yards over five seasons, with 155 touchdown passes to 46 interceptions. He also ran for 897 yards and 23 touchdowns.
The Texans have no reason to choose Tebow over any of their three quarterbacks, and now Tebow has too much experience to qualify for the practice squad.
Over his NFL career, Tebow has rushed 197 times for 989 rushing yards with 12 touchdowns and seven fumbles.
Arian Foster's numbers over that same period: 956 carries for 4,264 yards with 41 touchdowns and 10 fumbles. He averaged 4.46 yards per carry over that period.
Ben Tate's numbers: 240 carries for 1,221 yards, six touchdowns and five fumbles. He averaged 5.1 yards per carry.
I know the argument will be made that he's a quarterback and that designed running plays for running backs are usually more successful than a QB run play or a scramble, and that Foster played in more games than Tebow or Tate. But even so Tebow is no comparison. The only category he bests Foster in is average yards per carry, and Tate only loses to him in touchdowns.
In his lifetime, Tebow has played in 14 seasons of football. In all that time, he's played at the quarterback position. He's done a lot of running in that position too, but he's never played as a receiver.
The tight end corps for the Texans is already full of talent, with Owen Daniels consistently ranking in the top 10 tight ends and two good young players in Garrett Graham and Ryan Griffin.
As Mike Kerns detailed earlier this month, the Texans are also loaded at receiver with Andre Johnson, DeAndre Hopkins, DeVier Posey, Lestar Jean and Keshawn Martin.
With players like these already on the depth chart, it's hard seeing Tebow earning a roster spot with the Texans.
Though Tebow will only get the league-minimum anywhere he signs a contract, that's still probably not an incentive for the Texans at the current time.
Houston is by no means strapped for cash, but the league minimum for a player that has only one good year of NFL work on his resume and doesn't fit on the depth chart at any position he can possibly play is still a lot to pay. Don't forget that the Jets are still paying Tebow $1,531,875 for 2013 due to the trade they made with Denver.
Don't get me wrong here. I think Tebow is a great guy, and as a Christian, most of my morality lines up with his. But this guy can, intentionally or not, be a huge draw for the media.
I remember back when Tebow was entering the NFL, it seemed like Sportscenter became "Tebow-Center". I mean there was a five-minute report on his hair being cut to resemble a Jesuit priest, and NFL Live had a detailed segment devoted almost entirely to Tebow and whether or not he'd take Kyle Orton's job in Denver. (He eventually did, but that's not the point.)
When Tebow moved to the Jets last season, ESPN covered the "quarterback battle" between Tebow and Sanchez almost every day. Everyone knew at the time that Tebow was only brought to the team as another attention grabber for Rex Ryan, and that he'd probably never play a down during the regular season. Even so, Sanchez was questioned about Tebow almost every day.
The Texans want no part of that. There's no reason that a team with quiet, laid-back guys like Schaub and Johnson would ever want that much attention. That would be like the San Antonio Spurs signing Metta World Peace right now.
Tebow is a great guy and really deserves a chance to contribute to a team somewhere. But maybe it's time to put down the quarterback playbook and instead look for a job as a coach or a motivational speaker or a preacher. As they say, "The proof is in the pudding." So far, Tebow's pudding looks like a big serving of "Not-A-NFL-Quarterback."
