New York Jets finally release QB Tim Tebow

By Adam Silverstein
April 29, 2013

The New York Jets have finally waived quarterback Tim Tebow.

Just over 13 months after sending a fourth- and sixth-round draft selection (along with $2.53 million of a salary advance) to the Denver Broncos for Tebow’s services, the Jets have officially to cut him loose for no return.

Tebow was completely ineffective during his one year in New York, carrying the ball 32 times for 102 yards and completing 6-of-8 passes for 39 yards in the 12 games in which he saw action. However, his inability to serve as a playmaker for the Jets was hampered both by offensive coordinator Tony Sparano’s lack of creativity and head coach Rex Ryan’s continuously diminishing trust for the former Florida Gators signal caller.

“We have a great deal of respect for Tim Tebow,” said Ryan in a team release. “Things did not work out the way we all had hoped. Tim is an extremely hard worker, evident by the shape he came back in this offseason. We wish him the best moving forward.”

Once it became apparent that New York did not see Tebow in its future, the team ruined any opportunity it had to trade him and receive some value back for the player by making it well known that he was not in the Jets’ plans going forward.

Multiple reports of him being cut at the start of free agency on March 13 surfaced and no team in the league had a desire to part with any form of compensation for a player it could theoretically get for free.

That is now a possibility, though it may be unlikely.

New York did Tebow no favors by waiting to the conclusion of this year’s draft to cut him. Aside from undrafted free agents being added to fill out rosters, most teams have their starting quarterback and reserves in place. There are fewer open roster spots now than have been all offseason.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on the air Monday that the Jets had granted Tebow permission to seek a trade in the offseason, but he refused to discuss the possibility of moving to tight end, an offer supposedly made by a number of franchises.

Tebow has been working all offseason to improve his throwing motion in hopes that a franchise gives him the opportunity to compete as a reserve. His quarterback coaches – and supposedly bystanders like Steve Young – have been impressed with the improvement he has made.

Tebow originally chose to play for New York rather than play for his hometown team, Jacksonville, which made a trade offer that Denver also would have accepted. He, his agent and his family decided that he would have a better opportunity to see the field and succeed with the Jets.

3 Comments

  1. Michael Jones says:

    Merrill Hoge says that not only can Tebow not throw the football, but he has also discovered recently that Tebow has a very low football IQ (I think that means he’s stupid) and that he has no instincts as a runner. No word yet from Hoge on how he thinks Tim would fare in the Special Olympics (he might medal if he’s able to understand the rules).

    Doug Flutie had to go to the CFL for eight years, win 3 championships and 6 Most Outstanding Player Awards before coming back to the NFL, starting for the Bills, and making the Pro Bowl as a QB. Maybe Tim needs to head up to the Great White North and play for a team who’s committed to him and succeed before he’ll finally get a real chance to play QB in the NFL.

    It’s almost shocking to see how a guy like Hoge can start a landslide of opinion that has eventually succeeded in running a guy out of the league without so much as starting a single game after going 8-5 and taking his team to the playoffs the year before.

    I’ll tell you what else is unprecedented: the venom with which so many “experts” (who themselves are the jokes they try to make Tebow out to be) would work so hard to explain away a guy’s success. You’ve never seen that kind of personal animosity directed against a professional athlete before and you never will again. If any other unorthodox-looking guy does well, the media simply shrugs it’s shoulders and admits that the results speak for themselves. Not with Tim. No matter how well he or his team played, his critics worked passionately at trying to prove to the rest of the world that, no matter what, he wasn’t any good and that the positive results meant nothing and had nothing to do with his performance. You’ve never seen that before (to that level) and you’ll never see it again.

    • caligator says:

      Excellent comment–so true on every level. Glad he’s out of that dysfunctional, toxic cesspool. GO TEBOW

  2. Bob Beatty says:

    Michael:

    You are so right. The way Hoge and the rest of the ESPN talking heads treated Tebow was honestly so annoying and petty that I flat-out have just stopped watching the network. I get nothing out of it, just a bunch of opinionated blowhards trying hard to say something outrageous enough to a) raise their Twitter follower count and therefore b) get more air time/attention on ESPN.

    I don’t get Hoge at all. He *hated* Vince Young, which I understand. The guy was a whiner and not a winner. But Tebow was/is completely the opposite. The vitriol that pencil necked moron aimed at Tim was not only unwarranted, but also wrong and unnecessary.

    And my last point goes along with yours too. Tebow has a WINNING RECORD as an NFL qb and has won a playoff game. I am flummoxed as to why that counts for nothing in the NFL all things considered.

    Look, I’m as aware of the dude’s flaws as anyone, but you cannot measure heart and you cannot measure will to win. Tebow’s got both and has the record to prove it.

    Ok, I’m done ranting.

Join The
Discussion

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Top
WordPress Appliance - Powered by TurnKey Linux