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QB RankingsWhat is the Real Reason Tim Tebow is Not in the NFL?
Is Tebow that bad or is he being blackballed from the NFL?
After one unforgettable season as quarterback for the Denver Broncos, Tim Tebow was replaced by Peyton Manning and sent packing to the New York Jets where he languished for a season under Rex Ryan as a backup to the completely inept Mark Sanchez. After a brief showing with the New England Patriots in pre-season, Tebow is essentially out of the NFL, and it appears no-one is willing to give him another shot at being a QB.
With all of the horrible quarterbacks currently employed on NFL teams, the question must be asked-
Why is Tim Tebow unemployed?
Here are a few of the answers people give when asked this question.
"He is not an NFL quarterback, he’s a fullback or tight end."
"He can’t throw a football."
"He’s an option quarterback, that won’t work in the NFL."
"His throwing motion is too long."
"If Bill Bilichick doesn’t want him, no one will."
We have heard over and over again that the real reason Tebow is not in the NFL is because he simply can’t play quarterback.
So if that statement is true and he really can’t play quarterback then it would be pretty safe to assume that he is not as good as some of the current QBs starting in the NFL like Matthew Stafford, Jay Cutler, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Tom Brady, or Peyton Manning. That would also mean that there is no way he could ever compare to some of the great Hall of Fame, Super Bowl winning QBs like Joe Montana, Joe Namath, John Elway, Troy Aikman, Terry Bradshaw, Steve Young, Johnny Unitas, or Brett Favre.
If it’s that obvious that he is that bad, then with a little research that statement should easily be verified and proven true with little effort. To complete the research I decided to compare Tebow to the quarterbacks listed above as well as many others to see how he stacked up against them statistically. But to accurately do the research I couldn’t simply compare all of those quarterbacks within the same year. Some of them have been starting in the NFL for ten years while some, like Tebow, have only been starting for one. The most accurate way to compare them is to compare them over the same period of time in their careers.......Their First 16 Games.
The statistics to be compared would be the standard QB stat line:
Total Touchdowns, Completions/Attempts, Yards, Yards per/Completion, Interceptions, W/L Record, QB Rating
Based on the non-stop barrage of media claims that Tebow is the worst quarterback to ever play the game, I expected to find that he ranked well below all of the other "real" quarterbacks.
The results were a little surprising.
What the First 16 Game comparison of 28 QBs showed is that not only is Tebow not at the bottom of the rankings:
He ranks higher overall than everyone except Aaron Rodgers over the first 16 games.
He has scored more TDs than everyone except Matthew Stafford.
He has a Higher Yards per Completion than EVERYONE.
He has thrown fewer interceptions than EVERYONE.
He has a better W-L Record than everyone except Tom Brady.
He has the 7th highest passer rating.
While this doesn’t necessarily mean he will be an elite quarterback in the NFL, it does mean he has outperformed some of the elite QBs in NFL history in their first 16 games. This eliminates any doubt about Tim Tebow’s ability to play Quarterback in the NFL. Not only can he play quarterback, but based on the first 16 games, one day he could be one of the best.
That takes us back to the original question.
Why is Tim Tebow not playing quarterback in the NFL?
The statistics through the first 16 games clearly show that he can play quarterback regardless of what the media, ESPN Network, or the NFL network talking heads think or say. They don’t always get it right. There was this other rookie quarterback that was being blasted as a failure and labeled by the media for an atrocious rookie season. He was called the $5 Million Mistake who had to have the offense stripped down to make it simple for him to understand, and he couldn’t grasp basic NFL defenses, as his first 16 games clearly show. It turns out that the media was wrong and John Elway was a pretty good quarterback.
So if Tebow can play quarterback as well as the best of them early in his career as the stats clearly indicate he can, then there must be another reason he is still unemployed. This can’t be the first time that quarterbacks have been compared in this context. Surely the coaches and scouts within the NFL know how he compares to other quarterbacks through their first 16 games, and yet despite his well above average performance, no one is willing to employ him even as a backup.
Tell me it’s the cult like following he has, tell me it’s the media circus that hounds him, tell me anything you want....just don’t say he can’t play quarterback in the NFL, because based on a comparison of his first 16 games against some of the best to ever play the position, the numbers say he can.
