Tebow In Arizona Rumors Heat Up As Quarterback Trains In The Desert, Cardinals An Option For The Jets Backup? (PHOTO)

Jan 15, 2013 09:33 AM EST
New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow
New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow walks on the sideline with his head down during the fourth quarter of their NFL football game against the San Diego Chargers in East Rutherford, New Jersey December 23."

The Tim Tebow situation was a complete disaster for the New York Jets this season, but does the quarterback have a future in Arizona?

According to multiple reports from TMZ and Fox Phoenix, Tebow was seen working out at Paradise Valley Community College in the area, fueling speculation that he could become a Cardinal sometime in the future.

SB Nation wrote that Tebow was being friendly with fans and was signing autographs for anyone asking for one. The speculation about Tebow has come up since the Jets found no successful way to use him last season after acquiring him in a trade from the Denver Broncos.

Tebow working out. From Twitter: @narmenta
Tebow working out. From Twitter: @narmenta

Tebow's future has been up in the air lately because the only team that seemed to be interested in him, his hometown Jacksonville Jaguars, have expressed that they have no interest in bringing him to the team in a trade or if he is released by the Jets. Newly appointed GM David Caldwell made that clear at his introductory press conference.

Should the Cardinals acquire Tim Tebow?
  
pollcode.com free polls 

"He is a member of the New York Jets so I cant imagine a scenario where he would be a Jacksonville Jaguar," Caldwell said. A reporter asked Caldwell to report what he said, to which he responded, "I can't imagine a scenario where Tim Tebow would be a Jacksonville Jaguar. Even if he's released," Caldwell added.

According to Newsday.com, Tebow worked out for about two and a half hours with a personal trainer and did some drills and sprinting work.

Although Tebow did not have success with the Jets this season, the Cardinals are a team that struggled more at quarterback than anyone else in football. The offense was dreadful under head coach Ken Whisenhunt, which is one reason why he was dismissed at the end of the year.

The offense was ranked 32nd in the league in rushing and 28th in passing while averaging just 15 points per game, second worst in the league. The team wasn't able to use wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald as much as they wanted to because of the quarterback play, limiting him to just 71 catches for 798 yards and four touchdowns.

The Cardinals split time between John Skelton, Kevin Kolb and Ryan Lindley, all of whom were not consistent or successful in the offense. Arizona started off as one of the surprise teams in the league after going 4-0, but lost 11 of the final 12 games to finish 5-11 for the second time in three seasons. The only win for the team over that stretch was a 38-10 victory over the Detroit Lions on Dec. 16.

Whisenhunt went just went 45-51 in six seasons with the Cardinals, but there were deficiencies on both sides of the ball and suffered one of the worst losses in history when they were defeated 58-0 by the Seattle Seahawks in Week 15.

Arizona has been on a downward trend since making a surprise run to the Super Bowl during the 2008 season. Todd Haley was the offensive coordinator for the Cardinals and saw the team ranked third in scoring with 26 points per game and gained over 360 total yards per game on offense, ranked in the top five of the NFL.

Although the team was just 9-7, the Cardinals won the division and went on to score more than 30 points in each of its three playoff games. Arizona is desperate to return to some form of that offense after a miserable 2012 campaign. The team went 10-6 and made the playoffs in 2009, but regressed to 5-11 in 2010 and finished 8-8 and 5-11 in the past two seasons.

Tebow wouldn't be the high-powered quarterback that most teams have, but since the spread option has started to take the league by storm, perhaps a team like Arizona could be a good fit for the Heisman trophy winner.

Tebow first gained notoriety in the NFL as a rookie in 2010 after signing a five-year contract with the Denver Broncos, where he started his first NFL game on Dec. 19, 2010. Tebow became the third quarterback in NFL history to throw for a touchdown of 30 or more yards and run for a touchdown of 40 or more yards in the same game.

Tebow's strange road to this point started last season when he took over the starting job in Denver for Kyle Orton in Week 6 against the Miami Dolphins. Tebow helped spark the team to a dramatic comeback victory after being down 15-0 in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter. enver became the first team in NFL history to win a game after being down by at least 15 points with three minutes to play in a game.

He led team to the playoffs where they faced off against the Steelers in the first round and hit wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime for an 80-yard touchdown to seal his first career playoff win. But the off season took some interesting turns for Tebow. After the Denver Broncos announced they were going to sign free agent Peyton Manning, they traded Tebow to the New York Jets.

Tebow is still under contract for two more years and owner Woody Johnson has said in the past that he will remain with the team until his contract is up, fueling speculation that the Jets brought him to only sell tickets and jerseys. In a sense it worked, considering that Tebow was probably the first backup quarterback in history to lead the NFL in jersey sales.

Tebow barely logged any time at quarterback and rushed for 102 yards on 32 attempts and completed just 6-of-8 passes for 39 yards. Special teams coach Mike Westhoff recently spoke about the situation and said the way the Jets handled it was a "mess".

"It was a mess," Westhoff said of the Tebow situation, according to ESPNNewYork.com. "It was an absolute mess. You can say whatever else you want, it was really a mess. I was very, very disappointed. There are things that Tim Tebow as an NFL quarterback, he's very limited in some things. If you throw him in the middle of a drop-back passing offense, he will look very, very average at best. But if you incorporate him in different facets of your offense, I think he can be a factor. That's what I thought we were going to do, but we never did it."

Tebow's brother Peter also made headlines recently after the Denver Broncos lost their playoff game, tweeting: "Am I the only one in Denver who's happy right now?" He has since apologized.

Tebow is still a member of the New York Jets, but it's unclear still what the team will do with him, as they are looking for a new general manager after dismissing Mike Tannenbaum. Depending on who comes in, Tebow could get traded to another franchise, but so far no one has seemed willing to try to acquire him. Right now he is the most popular backup in professional sports and will remain that way as long as he is in a New York Jets uniform.

Get the Most Popular Stories in a Weekly Newsletter
© 2015 Sportsworldreport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Join the Conversation

  • Get Connected
  • Share
  • Like Us on Facebook
  • @sportswr
  • Recommend on Google
Real Time Analytics