Tim Tebow is an NFL free agent and many in the league have wondered whether he will sign with a team in 2014 and places like the Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers could be fits for the former Heisman winning QB in various types of roles.
Tebow could be a fit with the Bears as a backup since he has a connection to Marc Trestman, while the Vikings could take a chance with him behind Matt Cassel. The Cleveland Browns have a top five pick in the draft and with Mike Pettine at head coach there is that Jets connection as well and chances are Tebow would put some fans in the seats. Yes, this is all very unlikely, but for a guy with his resume, doesn't he deserve at least a shot?
The Jets never gave him a real chance to get things done and while the Patriots signed him after his release, everyone knew that Tebow would not make it past the preseason. The Patriots rarely carry three QBs and Bill Belichick did his best but he couldn't keep Tebow on the roster behind Ryan Mallett and Tom Brady. The best sniff that Tebow got was from the St. Louis Rams and that came after Sam Bradford was lost for the season, but the team opted to stick with Kellen Clemens instead and never really went after Mr. Timothy.
This is a bit old and may not be totally up to date, but let's take a look at how the British viewed Tebow last year during his media storm with the Jets. The Tim Tebow hype machine was rolling long before Aaron Hernandez was arrested and while many see him as a possible replacement tight end, others have said that the Patriots should just use him as a quarterback this season. On the other hand, many see him as overrated all together, including people from across the pond.
Some in his camp saw what happened with the Jets and the resulting response as a clear message that Tebow's career was over, but like everything else with the quarterback, it's not so simple and now that he is with the Patriots, he will get another chance.
Sky Sports in England even got in on the Tebow hype earlier in the offseason, as the website and writer Simon Veness took a look at Tebow and his NFL career in multiple articles in his "View From America" series and his biggest conclusion is one that many in America feel, which is that Tebow's talent and his play in the NFL do match up with the popularity he has with fans in America. Tebow is one of the most polarizing and popular athletes in all of sports, which was evidenced by his coming in as one of the top influential athletes in the US according to the Forbes list.
Sky Sports compares the polarizing feelings about Tebow to LeBron James and Tiger Woods, but based on how things have gone over the past year, Tebow is still at the top of that list too. The first article in the series by Veness looked at Tebow's career as a whole and how it got to the point where he couldn't find an NFL job, examining his time in college at the University of Florida as well as his tenure as the quarterback of the Broncos after being drafted in the first round.
Now that Tebow is with the Patriots his NFL future is not in question for the time being he has the chance to show whether he can be a solid player in this league. Some teams in the NFL have appeared to blackball Tebow to avoid the media hype, but after winning a playoff game and leading a team to the playoff, the quarterback deserves a chance to play in the league, even if it's over Tom Brady. Just kidding, but you get it.
