The Jacksonville Jaguars honestly didn’t need Tim Tebow entering the 2021 season. He could only be a distraction, wouldn’t have made the final 53-man roster by merit, and would be a gimmicky game day distraction who’d create a media frenzy.
Maybe the stunt signing and his reunion with Urban Meyer looked good on paper, but it was obvious after one preseason game that Tebow couldn’t keep up even against second- and third-string opponents at tight end. Thus, amid their first wave of roster cuts, the Jags cut Tebow loose on Tuesday.
No one is going to blame Tebow for how bad he was. He hadn’t played in the NFL regular season since 2012, and he was converting from quarterback to an entirely new, much more physically punishing position.
In fact, Tebow was more recently attempting a pro baseball career with the New York Mets. Football wasn’t even his primary athletic focus.
Although he showed up in great shape and looked the part physically, Tebow is 34 years old, doesn’t come close to matching the athletic profile of the NFL’s best tight ends, and — with all due respect to these players — couldn’t even come close to the likes of James O’Shaughnessy or Chris Manhertz to be among Jacksonville’s top two tight ends.
O’Shaughnessy and Manhertz aren’t household names. Tebow was not in their league.
As much love as Meyer has for Tebow, he’s also monomaniacal about winning, and he wasn’t going to let anyone stand in his way of achieving the objective of instant success in his first crack as an NFL head coach. Even Tebow.
So, with all that backstory established and Tebow out of Jacksonville, there were plenty on social media who wanted to poke fun at Tebow’s comeback attempt after he was released — if only because no one else with his credentials, or lack thereof, would’ve gotten this opportunity.
Twitter mostly blasts Jacksonville Jaguars, Tim Tebow after ex-QB’s failed NFL comeback
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