Tim Tebow is reportedly on the verge of making an NFL comeback as a tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Urban Meyer, his former coach at the University of Florida.
After recently working out for the Jaguars, the former Heisman Trophy winner, journeyman NFL quarterback, and minor league baseball player is expected to sign a one-year deal in Jacksonville in the next week or so, according to NFL Network. Specifics of the contract have not been reported, but if the deal isn't guaranteed, the Jaguars could cut Tebow in training camp without owing him much money.
Tebow, 33, has not played in an NFL game since 2012, when the Jaguars' franchise quarterback and top-overall pick of the 2021 draft Trevor Lawrence was just 12-years-old.
'All jokes aside,' tweeted former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz. 'Why is Tebow back in the NFL. (sic) There's no proper explanation for this. Dude hasn't seen the field in the regular season in 8 years.'
The news follows Tebow's recent decision to retire from baseball after four years in the New York Mets' farm system. He's also been an on-air analyst for ESPN's college football coverage, and Tebow recently celebrated his one-year anniversary with wife Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, the 2017 Miss Universe winner.
Tebow starred at the University of Florida under Meyer, who's entering his first season as the Jaguars' head coach. Although he was born in the Philippines, Tebow grew up in Jacksonville before enrolling at Florida.
The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner was a dual-threat quarterback who ran for 57 touchdowns over four seasons at Florida, while also passing for 88 TDs.
At 6-foot-3, 255 pounds, Tebow has a frame to play tight end, and Jacksonville is relatively inexperienced at the position. Jaguars tight ends Chris Manhertz, James O'Shaughnessy, and rookie Luke Farrell have only 100 combined catches in the NFL.
Accuracy issues limited Tebow's potential as a quarterback and after losing the starter's job in Denver, he ultimately failed to carve out a role with the New York Jets in 2012. Tebow went on to have brief stints with the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles, but never officially played for either team in a regular season game.
There remains some debate over how good Tebow really was in the NFL, but the numbers are not on his side.
In 2011, the only season he played regularly, Tebow completed 46.5 percent of his passes. For comparison, no qualifying NFL passer had a lower completion mark than 57 percent in 2020.
'When he was a quarterback in the NFL, that was a big topic,' Meyer told reporters last week. 'I was so busy I couldn't give him the time. ''What do you think? What do you think?'' And I didn't know. I was too busy to even think it through.
'I know playing a position in the NFL without [experience], that's a long shot. This was years ago.'
He played in the New York Mets' organization from 2016 to 2019, reaching as high as Triple-A in 2019, but announced his retirement from baseball in February.
In 2019, which turned out to be his final season due to the pandemic, Tebow batted .163 in 77 games at Triple-A - the highest level of minor league baseball - before suffering a season-ending pinky injury. He finishes his career with a .223 average over 287 minor league games.
