My Thoughts on Tim Tebow as a Professional Quarterback in the NFL

Prior to the 2010 NFL Draft, this image was pretty much all I knew about Tim Tebow. That, and he was the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy (something I will be get into in depth on another day). When #1 Florida lost to #2 Alabama in the SEC Championship, it all but assured that Florida had no chance of going to the BCS National Championship Game that year (Alabama would go on to to win the national championship). It should be noted here that the Tebow-led Florida Gators won the national championship the previous year and he was the 2nd string QB when Florida won 2 years before that. So what is Tebow crying about in this image? He's won 2 NCAA championships. He was the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy. He was without a doubt going to the NFL. What the hell is he crying about?


That was my first exposure to Tim Tebow, the rushing quarterback with an awful throw.

I next saw Tebow at the 2010 NFL Draft, where ESPN's "experts," including noted dick Mel Kiper, Jr., commented that a team would have to be incredibly foolish to buy into the SEC's and NCAA's hype of Tim Tebow and that he should not be drafted in the first round; a team that drafted him in the first round would eventually regret it once they realized that Tebow could not play quarterback at the professional level and was too arrogant to switch positions to a Halfback or Tight End. Denver Broncos head coach and general manager Josh McDaniels bought into the hype, drafting Tebow with the 25th overall pick. McDaniels was rewarded for his managment and coaching by being fired that season. After the Broncos were eliminated from playoff contention, Tebow started the rest of the games that season, proving his critics right as he struggled to complete passes, but had a talent for rushing.


With new coach John Fox, it was declared open season on starting QB and the position was up for grabs between Kyle Orton, Brady Quinn, and Tim Tebow. Orton eventually won the starting job, but compiled a miserable record. During this time, Tebow was named the 2nd string QB, ahead of Quinn. When it was clear that Orton would not help the Broncos at all, Fox and GM John Elway decided to give Tebow a shot, despite him being the clear antithesis of what Elway was in a quaterback. Since then, Tebow has won a ridiculous amount of games, despite having 11 total completions in his last 2 games.


Tim Tebow is an awful passer. Currently, Tebow has 88/187 passes (47.1%) for 1,259 yards with an average distance of 6.73 yards. He's scored 12 passing touchdowns and has 4 interceptions with 2 fumbles in 16 games played. He has 547 rushing yards, averages 6 yards per rush, 8 rushing touchdowns and 3 fumbles. Now stats are one thing, but you have to see how this guy passes. His passing motion is the goofiest fucking thing I've ever seen, reminiscent of how Kurt Warner held the ball crooked before throwing, but at least Warner was accurate and could consistently throw spirals. Tebow seems incapable of throwing easy passes and defies logic by constantly overthrowing teammates; the only reason he has so few interceptions is because his missed passes are off by a light-year.


And that's everything you need to know about Tim Tebow. He's a pretty mediocre QB with a talent for rushing, similar to Michael Vick, but he was much more successful in college.


Oh, he's also extremely religious. Like obnoxiously religious, taking part in prayer circles with his teammates and the opposing team before and after games. He always thanks Jesus after winning games, something that Kurt Warner also did, much to everyone's disgust. Tebow also gets talked about seemingly non-stop on ESPN, far more than his contemporary quarterbacks, like Sam Bradford, Christian Ponder, Colt McCoy, and Cam Newton. Every analyst who covers the NFL seems to have an opinion on him, most of them not favorable.


The fact of the matter is, Tebow should not be getting this much attention for being such a mediocre quarterback. There's a quarterback who had some similar stats in passing who also had a lot of media hype when he was a new guy.

Ryan Leaf. Leaf was drafted 2nd in the 1998 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers, Peyton Manning being picked 1st by the Indianapolis Colts. He went on to play "4" years in the NFL, missing an entire year due to injury and only playing 4 games in his final year. In his incredibly short career, Leaf recorded 317/655 passes (48.4%) for 3,666 yards, averaging 5.6 yards, 14 touchdowns, 36 interceptions, and 8 fumbles.


Wait what? Ryan Leaf completed a higher percentage of passes in his horrible career than Tim Tebow has? That doesn't make sense... They're also only a yard difference in YPC, yet Tebow is close to surpassing Leaf's total passing touchdown and isn't even close to his interception total....


Tim Tebow is some sort of freak of nature, who is absolutely terrible at passing, but when he does connect, he scores touchdowns. If he's not going to throw, he's a damn good rusher. So the Ryan Leaf solution was to make him a rush first quarterback? Oh wait... Leaf was an awful rusher, averaging 2.2 yards for a total of 127 yards with 16 fumbles.


I still can't comprehend why Tebow continues to win games. The statistics say that Tebow should be the next Ryan Leaf in passing, but rushes his team to victory, college style. Maybe that's why ESPN can't stop talking about him? All I know about Tebow is that if he ever learns how to pass, he has the potential to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He's already fantastic at rushing and has a low turnover ratio, so if he were to become accurate....


Don't be shocked if Tebow leads his team to a Super Bowl win one of these days. It certainly won't be this year, but sometime in the future, Tebow will win it all.


I just hope he doesn't pull a Kurt Warner and praise Jesus for teaching him how to throw. He needs to thank John Elway.