Monday, May 10, 2021

Jaguars expected to sign former QB-turned-TE Tim Tebow to one-year deal

 Headlines you didn't expect to see when 2021 began: Tim Tebow is back in the NFL.

Believe it.

NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero reported Monday that the Jacksonville Jaguars plan to sign Tebow to a 1-year contract, per sources informed of the situation. The deal is expected to be official in the next week or so.

Tebow recently worked out as a tight end with the Jags in days leading up to the NFL draft.

It's a position switch scouts implored the former Denver Broncos first-round quarterback to make more than a decade ago.

After spending two seasons with the Broncos, compiling an 8-6 record as a starting QB, including a string of wild late-game victories, John Elway replaced Tebow with Peyton Manning. The Heisman Trophy winner spent one tabloid-frenzied season with the New York Jets in 2012. He attempted just eight passes, completing six while playing special teams and carrying the ball 32 times for 102 yards, primarily out of the Wildcat. He then spent offseasons with the Patriots (2013) and Eagles (2015), respectively, before washing out of the NFL.

After a media stint, Tebow tried his hand at baseball, spending the past five years in the New York Mets system.

With his former Florida coach, Urban Meyer, taking over in Jacksonville, the Jags will give Tebow a shot to get back into the NFL as a tight end.

The 33-year-old hasn't played in the regular season in nine years and hasn't been in a football training camp since his Philly stint in 2015. To say it's a long shot for Tebow to make the roster is an understatement.

Still, to paraphrase Lloyd Christmas, we're saying there's a chance.

The Jaguars tight end's room is woefully thin. Blocking TE Chris Manhertz sits atop the depth chart, and rookie fifth-rounder Luke Farrell could be in line for a sizable role. James O'Shaughnessy, Tyler Davis, and Ben Ellefson fill out the TE room. Into that void, Tebow will attempt to reconjure his NFL career.

If Tebow had been willing to make the position switch years and years and years ago, perhaps he wouldn't have been wallowing away on a minor league baseball roster hovering around the Mendoza Line.

Tebow attempting an NFL comeback in 2021 took a confluence of circumstances. Meyer joining the Florida-based club hoping to generate headlines and sell merchandise, along with a glaring need at a position, and the former QB's willingness to finally consider switching positions all coalesced to bring Tebow back to football in 2021.

Now, we'll see if he can win a job.


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