The Tim Tebow thread - NFL 2010 draft

I saw the 2010 draft thread, but wanted to focus on your thoughts on Tebow specifically. If we get into other players/topics, that’s fine…

Just wondering what you all thought about Denver trading up to get him in the first round?

I thought it was a tremendous reach, and based on how all of the other QB’s continued to fall throughout the draft, I wonder if the Broncos could have picked him up in the second round with their regular pick.

Was any other team even interested in him? The only team I heard of with any interest in him was the Broncos, at least in the QB only role, so I was a bit surprised they traded up (and gave up so much) to get him.

Anyone out there like the pick, or think that Tebow is going to develop into a good pro QB?

I like Tebow, seems like a good kid. I’m also a sucker for glorious “underdog defies the odds” stories, so I’ll predict a great NFL career as a QB for Tebow. They said that skinny kid from Notre Dame couldn’t do it either. Joe Montana proved them wrong. I hope Tebow does, too.

The Bills were interested, so its possible he could have been gone before the Broncos second round pick.

Also, I hugely agree with this:

I’m surprised that I like Tebow. I thought sure his throwing motion would turn him into an easy target for safeties picking and rushers swatting. His work at changing it has worked, it’s quite impressive now, actually. He still has work to do on under-center dropbacks, and especially reading defenses (he had loads of trouble against Tennessee’s defense run by Monte Kiffen).

Still, I predict good results for him. I’m still mulling over a proposed bet pitting him against Clausen. The Broncos could implode around Tebow, but Clausen could turn into an Alex Smith.

I like Tebow. I get the sense that he is a genuine, real person who is an amazing college football player. I think he’d do anything to help out his teammates, and has the charisma to get them to help out each other. I think he’s had to deal with wwaaaayyyy too much media pressure and inane heckling at the hands of idiotic “fans”, and he’s dealt with it very well.

I also think he’ll never make it as an NFL starting quarterback and that the Broncos will greatly regret passing on Jimmy Clausen for Tebow. I am also willing to wager on that.

He’s left-handed. That alone is good enough for me.

As a Bills fan, I’m very glad Jesus H. Nice got picked up by the Broncos.

Plus, he always seems like a pre-programmed Jesus-Bot. Nothing about him seems genuine to me–he talks like Nuke LaLoosh at the end of Bull Durham.

As a Charger fan, I really couldn’t be happier.

I think he will be a total failure. He will fail as a QB, and only be put in a couple times in a wildcat or slash formation, and will get a concussion or screwed up knee.

Mcdaniels will be fired this year largely because of it.

Wow. You think McDaniels will get bounced at the end of this year? That means you believe he will install Tebow as the starter this year and bounce Orton… I don’t see that happening.

Tebow seems like a nice guy, and I thought he was a great college QB, but I saw him as a long-term project to have any chance to be an NFL QB. He seems eager to learn, knows his shortcomings as a QB, and is willing to work hard to do whatever it takes, but I don’t see him doing it within the year.

If he does, it will be a great story.

I didn’t realize the Bills were interested in him too. I read somewhere this afternoon (can’t find it at the moment) that they weren’t interested in any QB in this years draft, other than Bradford. The Broncos must have believed it to move up to grab him.

That was the single biggest surprise pick in the first round, IMO.

I think Sean Canfield(Saints in 7th round), Tony Pike(Carolina in 6th), Jonathan Crompton(Chargers in 5th), and Dan Lefevour(Bears in 6th) have pretty good chances of being better NFL QBs than St. Tebow. I think the Broncos totally overreached, especially because Clausen and McCoy were still on the board.

Wow, we could not disagree more. The guy sounds completely and entirely phony to me. Not that I think think the rah-rah stuff and god talk is a lie, I’m sure he believes it and is a good kid, but the way to recites the talking points in interviews and seemingly manufactures quotable sound bytes is totally contrived. When he’s interviewed and asked questions you can almost see him mentally checking off the bullets on the flash cards his agent and handlers prepped him with. Back when he made his little speech after the Ole Miss loss it sounded like something prepped for him by Under Armour, it was just PR intended to spin the news story in his favor.

I’m probably a cynic and the impression I get might just be an immature kid talking fast who’s not entirely comfortable on camera, but I’m not entirely sure. That Anti-abortion Super Bowl Ad was exactly the type of manufactured PR that I smell every time he talks. He reminds me of pre-Bimbo Tiger Woods. Everything thing he says and does is calculated to appeal to marketing execs, middle America and rich white guys who hire spokespersons.

I agree, he can sling the talking points with the best of them. That’s Tebow dealing with the media, which is a completely different beast than Tebow dealing with his team, his coaches, his family, and people in general. There are enough people who have met him, people I kinda respect, who think he’s a genuine, well intentioned young man. Sure he’s good at dealing with the media. He’d better be because of all the venom he gets. It’s a natural buffer I think any human needs when dealing with that much attention. But that’s Tim Tebow the image, not Tim Tebow the young man.

I was pleased with the trade, but only because I’m a Raven’s fan and I care nothing really about the Broncos. 3 Picks for my guys to put Tebow into their hands? There’s no downside there. The only way I could have enjoyed this more is if this same trade had been done and Tebow ended up on the Patriots so I could continue to hate the Patriots even more and just concentrate my fury by adding Tebow to the list.

That said, I do hope he gets a chance to play… if only to get treated like Aaron Rodgers out there. The problem is once Farve is gone… there’s now already Farve 2.0 waiting to be talked about.

TebowTebowTebow! It’s coming… Mark my words.

How on Earth is Tebow an underdog? He was picked in the first round, was a three and a half-year starter at the premier position at one of the premier schools in Division-IA football… I know there are a loud chorus of voices out there who say he will fail – mine very loudly among them – but there’s no way this guy’s an underdog.

As for me, I wouldn’t have wanted my Broncos to waste a 7th rounder on him, unless he’s willing to play tight end, and his buddy Jesus is probably telling him that God wants him to play QB, so even that would be a wasted pick. The only potential upside to this pick is if he gets a massive concussion and starts swearing at everybody and picking fights with his own teammates, the fans, the announcers, etc. That’d be pretty funny. Other than that… wow. I hate our new coach.

The Lions should have taken him so he and Jon Kitna can hang out and talk shop. About God, of course.

Jon Kitna’s still in the league?

I figure that Tebow got drafted to replace the giant Jesus-sized hole Kurt Warner left.

At the NFL level, he’s an underdog because so many people say he can’t/won’t make it at QB. Doesn’t have the skills, can’t read defenses, doesn’t have a good arm, can’t play under center, guys drafted in the 6th-7th rounds are better, etc.

Yeah Kitna is, but I forgot that he’s Romo’s backup in Dallas. I thought he was still in Detroit.

And LOL at the Warner comment. I forgot he was another one of the Godboys.

It just really irritates me (and I’m actually a Christian, in a sense) when professional athletes, rappers, actors and any other entertainers go on these diatribes about God, thanking God for making them so talented, etc.

Bill Maher said it best “God doesn’t care who wins the game. You never hear these guys blaming God when they lose.”

An underdog has the odds stacked against him. Tebow was taken in the first round, already has a head coach fawning all over him, was the only draft pick to get a ten minute interview, had Jon Gruden getting visibly angry during the draft broadcast at the notion that he wasn’t a great pick, and is far and away the most positively portrayed athlete from the draft. He’ll be given every chance to succeed; the only conceivable way he can manage to fail is if he can’t be a low-grade, game managing, won’t ruin your offense starting NFL quarterback. That many people are pointing out that he has the negative chops to fail, nevertheless, does not make him an underdog.

Tony Romo, Kurt Warner, John Randle; those are underdogs. Tim Tebow’s just a guy who was picked too high.