3 reasons why the Tim Tebow experiment didn't work out in Jacksonville
Tim Tebow's NFL comeback story is over after just one preseason game. The Jacksonville Jaguars announced today that they have released the 34-year-old newly christened tight end.
Tebow was attempting to earn a place on the Jaguars’ active roster for 2021 after not stepping foot on a football field for over six years.
The key reason Tim Tebow was given the opportunity to stage an unlikely NFL comeback was his relationship with new Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer.
Meyer coached Tebow at the University of Florida and the two have remained close friends. That said, even their close ties couldn’t manufacture a storybook ending for Tebow’s pro football career.
Tim Tebow's NFL comeback was destined to fail
There are many reasons why Tim Tebow’s NFL comeback was less than short-lived, but let’s look at the three main factors that led to the former Heisman Trophy winner being cut before the 2021 NFL regular season.
#1 - Tim Tebow is 34
Tim Tebow is no spring chicken; the 2010 first-round draft pick is now 34 years old.
To make the Jacksonville Jaguars roster, Tebow was going to have to beat out professional football players who were 10-12 years younger than him. Modern medicine has come a long way, but as the saying goes: “Father time is undefeated.”
Tebow has kept himself in good shape - he played professional baseball for four seasons - but nothing compares to the rigors of an NFL training camp.
#2 - He's a college QB
At 6-foot-3, 255 pounds, Tebow was always going to struggle making it as a tight end. He had never played the position in his long and storied high school and college career, let alone at the pro football level.
Tebow lacks the size of a modern-day tight end and has no experience catching passes thrown by NFL-quality quarterbacks.
Maybe if Tebow was younger, he would have had a better chance of transitioning to tight end, but at 34, that was never going to happen.
Another important point is that Tebow was not quite a good NFL quarterback. Yes, he had that one big playoff game, but outside of that “Miracle at Mile High,” he struggled to make an impact in the NFL.
#3 - Tebow had not played pro football in over six years
The former Florida Gators star QB had not played in a pro football game since the 2015 NFL preseason.
Instead, he has been working as a sports broadcaster on ESPN and attempting to play Major League Baseball with the New York Mets.
So he’s 34, trying out for a position he’s never played at any top level of football and coming back from a lengthy layoff.
Those three factors are why Tim Tebow is now likely to head into pro football retirement and back into the broadcast booth.