Couch: If Hating On Tim Tebow Is Right, I'd Rather Be Wrong
We’ve been waiting all week for Tim Tebow to sign his NFL-minimum contract to try out with his old coach Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Maybe he’ll do it today. But what’s the delay?
Whatever it is, it has provided plenty of time to hear about all the wrongs of Tebow, the entitlement and the unfair treatment of Colin Kaepernick, the race questions and all the other fourth-string-tight end candidates out there who are being denied opportunity by the big bad Tim Tebow.
In other words: A bunch of noise. The delay seems to be that Tebow stopped to give a speech in Tennessee along the way, as Gov. Bill Lee provided a $1.2 million pledge to a ministry of the Tim Tebow Foundation to fight human trafficking.
“This has to do with 40.3 million people around the world that need us, that need you,’’ Tebow said. “This is people in their darkest hour of need, that need faith, hope and love.’’
Tebow’s message to victims of human trafficking was that his foundation can be a place for them to run to, “but more than that, we’re going to come running to you. Wherever you are, wherever you’re at, we’re running to you.’’
So where was I again? Oh yeah, the social wrongs behind the meaning of Tim Tebow.
I actually have another theory about the message of Tebow, and it’s this: Maybe someone trying to do all the right things and combining that with hard work and a love for playing sports really isn’t making all that horrible of a social statement.
The truth is, there is not one thing wrong with Tebow trying out for the Jaguars, whether at tight end, quarterback, team chaplain or whatever he wants. Tebow is 33 years old, and we still haven’t gotten to the big I-told-you-so moment when we find that he really is too good to be true.
The contrast to Kaepernick is the most galling thing of all. Kaepernick was blackballed for a while, yes. That wasn’t right. But NFL teams then gave him a tryout, and he didn’t like the terms. So he sabotaged it.
He had a chance. He got a settlement. It’s on Kaepernick now, and he seems to be most comfortable keeping and profiting off of an identity as a guy who isn’t getting a chance.
My point is: He doesn’t want to play. Tebow does. And Tebow is a former Heisman Trophy winner willing to start from the bottom, on a league minimum salary, at a tryout. No one wants him as a quarterback, so he’ll try tight end.
How is this even a comparison? One guy is willing to try to do everything possible so he can play, while the other guy doesn’t want to.
It just seems so hard for the media to accept that Tebow’s only social justice statement is that he isn’t making one.
Meanwhile, it makes perfect sense for Meyer to want Tebow.
Tebow didn’t make it in the NFL, really. In Denver, he had such a habit of playing poorly at quarterback the whole game and then miraculously pulling out wins in the end that the city fell madly in love with him.
He is a winner.
But he wasn’t a good enough passer to be a top NFL quarterback. And that put former Broncos coach John Fox in such a spot -- stuck with a QB who wins games, has a city’s love and yet is fatally flawed as a passer. Fox was dying to get rid of Tebow.
So Tebow went to the New York Jets, and that didn’t work out either. He got stuck in the minor leagues in baseball. And now he takes his legend to a minimum-contract and a tryout.
Honestly, that seems to be less about desperation by an athlete or a publicity stunt by a team than it is about a guy willing to lift himself by his bootstraps, trust himself and risk embarrassment.
You already know the background: Meyer coached Tebow at Florida, and together they won two national championships.
Jacksonville fans wanted the Jaguars to take Tebow out of college, but they chose not to. Then, after the Denver Broncos dumped him, Jaguars fans wanted him again. It didn’t happen. The Jaguars need to reconnect with their own town.
Meanwhile, they are getting a fresh start with Meyer and quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the first pick in the draft. Tebow will take pressure off Lawrence by drawing media and fan focus away.
And sure, Tebow has been out of the NFL for nine years and hasn’t played tight end before. But he does have a history of breaking tackles and picking up first downs. He has a history of winning. And he isn’t going to be required to push defensive ends around. He’ll basically be a big receiver.
Why not give him a look?
But maybe most of all, Meyer is all about the culture and attitude of a locker room. The Jaguars are losers. When you are a franchise that has been losing for a long time, you learn what it takes to lose. It infects you.
Tebow is a winner and a positive force in a locker room. There is a reason for Tebowmania and Tebowing. It’s incredible that Tebow has become a social experiment that some people are outraged by.
The media are just so disconnected on this. People believe in Tebow and want him around.
People come running to him. That’s not a fault.