Tim Tebow’s Camp Thinks He’s Done With NFL, And You Should Blame ESPN
By Josh Hill
Tim Tebow’s career was brief, it was tumultuous and it will be remembered for a lot of things not related to football. Tim Tebow was a reserve and overall nice guy who was painted as a demon thanks to relentless and undeserved coverage from ESPN and that will unfortunately be his legacy. Tebow could redeem his career should he sign with a team this offseason but a report in ESPN The Magazine states that Tebow’s private camp is saying the former Heisman winner is done with the NFL.
Tebow hasn’t said anything officially but logic does suggest that he’s being forced out of the NFL and he’s accepting the notion that no one wants him on their team. It almost makes you feel bad, because we all played a part in the bashing of Tim Tebow and in the end it really doesn’t seem worth it. Tebow did nothing wrong to anyone, he just wanted to play football and gave given more than he asked for.
Tebow didn’t ask to be drafted in the first-round when he wasn’t being valued there, he didn’t ask to have his cult of fans call for him to start in Denver and he didn’t ask for the media circus that ESPN forced upon him to their own benefit. ESPN sucked Tebow dry until he was of no use to their ratings and then they flipped on him to get the ratings back up. When it was popular to cover Tebow, ESPN was right there at Jets camp, stopping short of putting a camera in Tim Tebow’s room. Then when he was losing public popularity they burned him at the stake.
NFL scouts weren’t fond of Tebow but their criticism wasn’t as centered on his cult as others. One NFC scout told ESPN The Magazine that even during Tebow’s best season in 2011, he wasn’t setting anyone’s mind on fire.
“He’s not a quarterback,” the scout said. “When you look at his run two years ago, when you watch the tape and break it down, he wasn’t really doing anything that impressive. He’s a tough guy, a great leader, a great person. But he isn’t a good enough quarterback to have all the distractions that come with him.”
It was the distraction amplified by ESPN that scared everyone off, not Tebow’s religion or his play. There was talent inside of Tebow but the attention around him was such a circus that not even the lowest of NFL franchises ended up wanting to have anything to do with him.
The NFL is filled with devoutly religious guys like Jon Kitna, Matt Birk and current players like Philip Rivers who aren’t afraid to thank God. In fact it the status quo to thank God and Jesus Christ anytime something good happens to you, yet when Tebow did it he was crucified. It’s a double standard that most people are all guilty of, whether they were directly doing it to Tebow or indirectly so through his cult following.
There’s a chance Tebow makes a comeback, but like Fox News and MSNBC support and grow their political parties, ESPN created the idea of Tim Tebow that overshadowed the player. And while they had the power to build him into the icon he was never meant to be, they had the power to tear him down and that’s exactly what we saw happen.
Take ESPN away and Tebow is another backup in the NFL trying to make it. Add ESPN to the mix and you have what we saw — a circus that engulfed the potentially promising career of a guy who’s chances were ruined not by drug addiction or legal problems but the national media.