Jaguars Make First Roster Cuts, Waiving Tim Tebow

The Jacksonville Jaguars have made their first round of roster cuts ahead of the 2021 season, releasing five players in total. Among them, infamous offseason signing, tight end Tim Tebow. 

The full list of roster cuts are as follows: 

• Corner DJ Daniel (waived)
• Wide receiver Josh Imatorbhebhe (waived/injured)
• Wide receiver Tim Jones (waived/injured)
• Defensive tackle Daniel Ross (reserve/injured)
• Tight end Tim Tebow (waived)

The NFL required teams to reduce their rosters from 90 players to 85 today. Clubs will be required to move from 85 to 80 next Tuesday, and then from 80 to the final 53-man roster on August 31. 

Daniel, a former Georgia Bulldog, was signed as an undrafted free agent following the 2021 NFL Draft. 

Josh Imatorbhebhe spent the entirety of training camp thus far injured and was unable to play in Saturday's preseason loss to the Cleveland Browns. Daniel Ross did play on Saturday and has been one to draw eyes during camp, but is fighting against a loaded unit. 

Tebow was arguably the most talked about—and controversial—signing of the offseason. The former Heisman and National Championship MVP quarterback had not played a regular season game in the NFL since 2012. He had not been on a NFL roster since 2015, and never as a tight end. He spent the interim working as an analyst on ESPN and pursuing a career in minor league baseball. But Head Coach Urban Meyer's was willing to sign his former QB as a tight end ahead of mini-camp. 

On July 31, Meyer told local reporters of Tebow's progress, "He has good hands. In his drill work, he’s great, but when you get in a competitive moment, just [because of his] lack of experience he wants to body the ball. When you get to a point where two people are going after it, you have to go get the ball. He is fighting through that a little bit, but he has the skill set to catch the ball.”

Passing game coordinator Brian Schottenheimer appreciated what Tebow brought to training came from a former quarterback's point of view. 

“I have loved it — you know he is just a sponge. He knows there are things he does not know — he asks unbelievable questions, you know he really does," Schottenheimer told reporters last week. 

"You see the football mind, you see how he sees the game from the quarterback’s point of view. There was a play a couple days ago in the red zone where I think it was CJ [Beathard] broke out and scrambled left and the first guy that saw it was Tim and we threw him a touchdown pass. Oh why is that? Well he has played the position — he has stood back there and seen oh well he is moving this direction, I have to go with him." 

A Jacksonville native, Tebow drew ample attention from fans at Jaguars practices, scrimmages and the first preseason game. For his part, the tight end stayed relatively out of the spotlight, as much as possible. He did not meet with the local Jacksonville media during his time with the club. The only time he mentioned his time with the Jaguars on social media, was when announcing he'd been released.