Tim Tebow

Not saying it was easy, but when you are surrounded by some of the finest blue-chip athletes in the sport for the duration of your college career, you're going to have some success if you're a decent player. You're going to have time to throw and room to run.

That was the situation for Tim Tebow at Florida. He doesn't have that luxury in Denver. Denver has gotten rid of every playmaker they had for the most part. If Timmy somehow wins the job (Denver obviously invested a lot in him so even if he was outplayed, he could get it anyways), I don't see him having much success. I feel like McDaniels just fell in love with his heart and work ethic, but when you don't have the talent...it's not going to be so good.

 

This was the absolute worst pick in the first round.

Denver is being seen as a laughing stock by many for it.

It's a reach of epic proportions.

If I were a Bronc fan I'd be beside myself tonight.

 

I had Tebow rated as the second best QB in this draft. I see him as a slightly less athletic, better passing, better leader, better worker version of Vince Young. He'll struggle with the transition to under center and with passing on time.

He won't struggle with the change in throwing motion since they didn't change his release point. They really just changed where he holds the ball and the loop. Those are easier fixes which are not difficult to maintain under fire and shouldn't affect his accuracy, which is better than he's given credit for.

He also won't struggle with reading defenses. Despite what many think, the Gator offense uses many NFL type reads. He'll have to adjust to the speed of the game, of course, but he has a high football I.Q. and more experience making NFL reads than many draftees.

 

Glad you asked and here's my opinion; for what its worth. There were two QB's taken in the first round and, to me the Tebow pick is the safer one. Why? Sam Bradford is a great College QB with all the tangables you could ask for and he's been a winner everywhere he has been, his highlight of this season happened last night!! The Rams have an atrocious O-line and Bradford, for all his savy does not know how to protect himself so I'm saying he will fail because of that.

Now lets look at Tim Tebow, the next John Elway?!, he will have a chance to sit and learn without the pressure of winning from the getgo. He will get some package plays to get his feet wet. He will get a TD or two under his belt and his teammates will come to love his comittment to the game and them. The comparisons to V. Young are dead wrong as Tim Tebow is not some kid who has problems between his ears and doubts himself. You will love everything about Tim imvho and he will prove all the natsayers dead wrong! Tim Tebow has ALL the intangables that Sam Bradford does not!

 

McDaniels is still Belli's puppet. I honestly think the Patriots were trying to use Jedi mind tricks on any team willing to bite on Tebow early, showing fake interest in him by meeting with him before the draft. Of course McDaniel's, wanting to 1-up the Patriots as usual, took the bait, leap-frogged the Patriots and wasted a 1st round pick on a guy who will probably end up being Peyton Hillis' replacement in 2 years. The reason I think this was more knee-jerk than calculating is the fact that they just traded for Brady Quinn before the draft.

Do you honestly think the Patriot's would've wasted a 1st on this guy? I could see them drafting him as a project in the late 2nd, early 3rd rounds, but that's it. McDaniel's just got jobbed again by the Pats. They know they can pretty much get him to do whatever they want as long as he has this "Mini-Belli" complex. What a tool. lol

 

This was a really bad pick by Denver. Not only is it going to take years to develop Tebow into even a mediocre NFL Qb but they take him in the 1st round so the expectation is that he is going to play sooner than later. Tebow needed to go to a team that had a clear cut starter like Manning or Brady, learn for 3 or 4 years then maybe take over.

When Orton has two bad games in a row the fans are going to start chanting Tebow, Tebow, the ownership will step in and the guy will be playing...poorly. He doesn't have a great arm, his accuracy is terrible more than a few yards out and he has some of the worst mechanics in the draft. I'm sorry but people fell in love with the guy as a person, which is fine, but you need real NFL caliber talent to succeed in the NFL and he's short on it IMHO.

There have been hundreds of 'winners' and great stat guys at the college level that can't play against NFL defenses. I like Tebow, I hope for the best but objectively I can't see him being a really good pro quarterback, he's a major project that went WAY too early. Someone taking him in the 3rd or 4th round and sitting him for a few years to learn? Thats a decent plan, but in the first? I think McDaniels made a move that will get him fired frankly.

 

His accuracy is actually pretty good. And he's more accurate on his long passes. Since he isn't a timing passer yet people think he's not accurate (despite his phenomenal completion %).

His mechanics from his pro day were actually very good. Some people believe that they won't last under pressure, but IMO the types of tweaks they did are very easy to make permanent.

His arm strength is more than adequate. It's actually very comparable to Bradford's, arguably stronger than Clausen's and obviously stronger than McCoy's.

It's just a shame that people can't get past their own biases and/or the media's propaganda and evaluate the player fairly.

 

You have yourself a genuine QBOTF if your head coach doesn't rush him onto the field.

 

Tebow had a way better college career then Tom Brady....so if he works hard and gets the opportunity I think he can adjust to the NFL. I think QB is the hardest position to judge but it sounds like Tebow is a smart guy besides being one of the hardest workers around. I would not have taken him in the first, but I think he will be ok. I like him better then Orton or Quinn. Folks here in Colorado seem excited. Good luck.

 

Very well said. Bottom line is the kid is a winner. I think you will be pleased. Most of the time, people just hate on winners and/or dynasties. This kid is a winner and will win your team, fans, and city over.

 

Lots of people work hard. You could consider a lot of people 'winners'. That doesn't mean they're NFL quarterbacks. Usually teams take project QBs in the later rounds. This was a reach of epic proportions. I love the guy's attitude, I love his work ethic. I wish a lot more athletes were like Tim Tebow. It's just hard to see him as a starting NFL QB in the near future. A couple of teams fell in love with his character and college legacy and then Denver blinked and made the giant reach.

 

Not sure why you would think anyone is biased, I actually like Tebow and Florida so I'm not sure why anything I said would be biased. I've watched him a lot, his arm is not comparable to Bradford's. He was accurate in college....but if you watch him trying to make harder pro style throws he wasn't accurate, there have been tons of guys in college with amazing comp % who can't make pro style throws into tight pro coverage, the game is totally different.

His mechanics were horrible for his entire career but he looked good on a pro day so problem solved? Somehow I doubt it. He's a good kid, he'll listen to coaching but to act like he's solved all of his problems and he's this no brainer pro prospect is pretty out there. I have no problem with someone taking a flier on this kid but in the first round? Once Orton has a bad stretch they are going to be playing Tebow and thats not good he needs a lot of coaching and practice before he can play against NFL defenses.

 

You think the fans will be chanting for the Cleveland cast off or the 1st round pick? I think ideally the plan is what you are suggesting but a 1-4 start with Orton struggling and Quinn being.....Quinn and its going to be ugly in Denver.

 

The bias is created by the media as they perpetuate inaccurate facts. For example, the idea that changing your throwing motion is difficult. That is an over simplification that is repeated as a sound byte for public consumption. It is difficult to change a QB's release point and arm track. It is easy to change where a QB holds the ball. To me that equates to teaching a fighter to keep his hands up. I have a bit of experience there and all it takes is reps, not even that many. Once the QB has the ball up there, that loop disappears naturally. That is all that was wrong with Tebow's arm mechanics. He didn't have a sidearm delivery like most every other QB you've seen try to change their mechanics and fail. Tebow really only had to make a small tweak which looks like a big change b/c the loop is gone. With that small change his arm mechanics are as good or better than most prospects.

The other misconception that causes bias is the idea that all spread offenses have different read progressions than NFL offenses. College spread offenses are incredibly varied in their read requirements. The current Florida offense actually uses many NFL type reads. The media and fans are so used to the Spurrier fun and gun that they don't realize it changed to a more NFL type offense under Meyer. I don't think it's a coincidence that all those very good UF WRs couldn't make the transition to the NFL from Spurrier's offense and suddenly Luis Murphy and Percy Harvin can. It's not a pure pro style offense but it's much closer than most college systems. The upshot is that Tebow has spent more time making NFL reads and going through NFL progressions than the majority of the QB prospects.

Tebow will take time to adjust to the footwork coming from under center and he will need time to learn to pass on time, but those aren't insurmountable hurdles. In fact they are what most QBs face.

As for his accuracy, it is unquestioned that he had a high completion percentage. The question is whether he had abnormally open receivers that inflated those numbers. Looking at last year the only target he had that really did a great job getting separation was Hernandez. Riley was decent but certainly not superlative. Tebow was completing those passes last season b/c he was putting them on target.

With regards to his arm strength, I see it as comparable to Bradford's and Clausen's and better than McCoy's. But really, it doesn't matter b/c most everybody agrees that his arm strength is at a minimum good enough.

 

I hope its as easy as you think it is to completely adjust a throwing motion because its ruined a lot of NFL careers. Its not just a matter of reps. Fighters are fine in the gym but when they get popped in the mouth instinct takes over, we'll have to see how Tebow's mechanics are when the pocket collapses. People are worried about his reading ability because he ran so often, he isn't athletic enough to just tuck and run in the NFL when no one is open right away. I totally disagree about the media being biased, its actually been the other way around as of late, the guy raised himself from a 3-5th round pick to a first round guy in a matter of months, a lot of it has been media generated. This guy is a major project, you don't see a lot of teams trading up to get a project Qb.

 

Only time will tell bro.

My opinion is that they gave up way to damn much for Tebow I felt they could have stayed and ended up with Tebow but you guys folded to the Pats.

If Tebow becomes a pretty good QB then it was worth it but right now he wont see the field so first few years is a waste.

 

I specifically explained how the adjustments to Tebow's throwing motion were different than the adjustments that ruined careers. And the fighter example was about how they learned to keep their hands up in the ring.

No, people are claiming he never had to go through his progressions, but if you've watched every throw he's made at UF as I have you know that is inaccurate.

And the combine proved he's a lot more athletic than most every other QB. It's actually the same old argument that he would fail at UF b/c he wasn't athletic enough to play the same way against the SEC defenses. He did alright there and the SEC speed and athleticism is as close as you can get to the NFL level. There is still a jump, but reality is that the SEC had 49 players drafted this year, so he'll be facing many of the same players again.

 

A project QB should never go that high

 

All spread QBs are a project to some extent. And most of your QB prospects are coming form spread offenses as I believe there are less than 10 pro-style offenses in college football. I don't see Tebow as much more of a project than any other spread QB, if at all. I think he is perceived that way b/c people have only a simplistic understanding of the throwing motion and which parts of it are difficult to change.

 

I don't claim to be a Tebow expert or anything, but from what I've personally watched and also heard from many detractors, he's being criticized for more than just the holding point in his throwing motion. We saw, firsthand, that his slow wined up was still an issue at the senior bowl -- a game where he made it a point to come out and throw the ball more conventionally --and it didn't go too well at all. There were also issues with the tightness of his mid-range throws, but that's not uncommon for a rookie anyways. He still has a certain jerky delay to his throw even with a higher hold. DB's are going to read that and jump on his throws regularly if he carries that over into the pros.

And I don't think it's as easy a fix as remembering to keep your hands up in boxing. A more accurate comparison would be trying to change your shooting form in basketball. If you've shot the ball a particular way your entire life, it's hard to untrain yourself of those habits (good or bad). Muscle memory takes over when put in realtime, in-game situations. Shaq has had every shooting coach known to man work with him, and I've seen a video of him making 20-30 freethrows without missing in practice, but he's still a horrible freethrow shooter in real games. Coaching only gets you so far. What happens when the lights come on is all that matters.

To say he didn't go through any progressions while at UF is a stretch. However, it's also a stretch to suggest he regularly made pro level reads and progressions when we've seen a major part of his legendary college career made from tucking and running (not including the plays that were designed for him to run). You just can't have it both ways. He has an innate HB's mentality when things don't go according to plan, and I'm just not buying that he'll be able to break the habit right away of leaving the pocket when he feels pressure. Pssh, the Jets were still trying to teach Sanchez how to slide properly for basically the entire season, for goodness sakes. I can only imagine how long it's gonna take to break some of Tebow's habits.

Bottomline is, whether or not he can make the necessary adjustments later on down the line is irrelevent. The real question is, can the Broncos get those problems fixed before the fans start calling for Tebow to play? You know it's bound to happen once Orton and Quinn have bad stretches. To use a 1st on Tebow basically forces McDaniels hand. The fans and management alike are going to want to see somewhat immediate results from their 1st round pick (especially from the QB position), and McDaniels is already on a short leash by trading away both Cutler and Marshall in less than 2 seasons. His job is definately riding on the next year 1/2 with Tebow, whether he likes it or not.

 

I would be real upset, you used a first round pick on a part time H-back.

Yeah you can use him in the wildcat, but so can you use a 1000 other guys.

I thought it was a horrible reach. Yes he is a good character guy, but what does that mean while holding a clipboard?

 

I think his motion is lot worse than you think obviously, its not a simple fix at all. He isn't fast enough to just tuck and run, he's lightyears faster than a Dan Marino but he can't rely on breaking from the pocket consistently in the NFL. He ran a lot in college. He's a good option on short yardage plays though. He's got a long ways to go.

 

We'll disagree on the motion. I've studied QB throwing motions for years and I'm very confident in what I'm saying.

The combine showed that he is faster and quicker than most QBs. He had the third fastest 40 time and his three cone was the quickest by a substantial margin. In fact, his three cone time was the fastest among the running backs who ran at the combine as well. They didn't all run of course, but he had a better three cone than Javid Best. And he is obviously more powerful than most on short yardage runs. Overall there isn't much evidence for the idea that he won't be able to tuck it and run better than all but a few NFL QBs.

 

...thats one of the problems with him...most teams don't want their Qb making a read and tucking and running. He ran so much at Florida he basically has to completely re learn the position, teams would rather have a statue back in the pocket like Manning that can maneuver around a rush, keep their head up and make any throw over a guy that makes a quick read and tucks and runs, guys like that struggle big time in the NFL.

 

But he did have to make reads, in fact NFL type reads more often than the majority of college QBs. He doesn't have to learn that anymore than most prospects.