The Tim Tebow trade hit yet another snag—though at least this time it won't warrant any intense prayer sessions. Because of a procedural issue, Tebow is required to sign a rewritten contract with the Denver Broncos on Friday and remain on Denver's salary cap until Saturday afternoon. This of course just gives him more time to plot his Jets ascendence: sources tell the Daily News that Tebow actually did push to come to NY over Jacksonville. And that's because he sees a clear path to resuming his career as a starter.
But isn't that obvious really? Does anyone really think Tebow "wanted to play for Coach Ryan ever since" he saw Hard Knocks? He's buttering him up—Tebow can be quite charming and well-mannered: “He is a great kid,” Broncos VP John Elway said earlier this week. “If there is one guy I want to marry my daughter it’s him.”
And Tebow is already arguably a bigger celebrity than Sanchez, with a truly devoted fanbase—fans flocked to Times Square Modell's store late yesterday to get their hands on the first Tebow Gang Green merchandise, including $25 T-shirts that read "Tebow 15." He even has a new trading card, and he hasn't even put on a jersey yet! Despite many around the league thinking he's "not a legitimate quarterback," Tebow had incredible success leading the Broncos to the playoffs last season on the back of many ridiculous fourth-quarter comebacks.
One Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator told the News: “At different times, different people have alluded that he might not be good enough. Now all of a sudden you bring in the most popular guy in the league—the guy sold more jerseys than (Tom) Brady did last year. It’s going to put a lot of pressure on Mark. More pressure than he’s ever had.”
The Jets organization has stated several times that after giving him a three-year $40 million contract extension, Mark Sanchez will be their starter next season. General manager Mike Tannenbaum has even spinned it as if this is a purely positive move on Sanchez's behalf: "I don't think it will be an adverse effect. We really see it as a positive because again we think we're going to be much harder to prepare for and our focus internally, while we haven't seen the acquisitions, has been to put Mark in a chance to be successful and run plays, play action, and really shore up the run game and play to Mark's strengths."
The team has already begun drawing up Wildcat plays to utilize Tebow and Sanchez, and considering Tebow's prodigious running abilities, he might be doing more grounding-and-pounding than that: "Tebow is the type of style and the type of football that they want to play," former Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson told 1090 Sports Radio in San Diego.
At least one person still has Sanchez's back: Mayor Bloomberg. "I did hear that the Jets have a new quarterback and I can tell you, personally, I was hurt...because I would have thought that if they wanted to have a backup for Mark Sanchez all they would have to do is call me," he joked on his radio program this morning. Bloomberg previously came to Sanchez's defense when the Jets were first taking a peek at Peyton Manning; he noted htis morning, "Tebow is certainly going to make things interesting and breed new excitement."
