Tim Tebow Joining Jaguars As Tight End, Twitter Perplexed At NFL Player’s Return

Tim Tebow is one step closer toward making his return to professional football. The legendary college football quarterback is about to sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars, according to multiple reports, trying a new position nearly a decade since he last played an NFL game.

Tebow is expected to sign a one-year contract with the Jaguars, for whom he will try to make the roster as a tight end. Tebow is reuniting with new Jacksonville head coach Urban Meyer, who coached the 33-year-old at the University of Florida.

The Denver Broncos selected Tebow in the first round of the 2010 draft. Tebow started 12 games at quarterback for the Broncos over two seasons and was traded to the New York Jets. Tebow had just eight passes attempts and two rushing attempts for the Jets in the 2012 season.

Tebow has not played in a regular-season game over the last eight seasons. The former Heisman Trophy winner had failed attempts at making the roster for the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles while competing in the preseason.

Jacksonville’s decision to sign Tebow has confused many NFL fans and media members alike. Tebow quickly became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter Monday afternoon in light of the news.

All jokes aside. Why is Tebow back in the NFL. There's no proper explanation for this. Dude hasn't seen the field in the regular season in 8 years.
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) May 10, 2021

The whole idea that Tebow will be inspirational if he’s the third-team tight end— which won’t happen — is absurd. Players follow good players. The third-team tight end doesn’t motivate anybody.
— Pete Prisco (@PriscoCBS) May 10, 2021

That's exactly what I was thinking. Instead of the Jaguars giving a real Tight End a shot, they'll just waste a few weeks on Tebow for media attention and cut him just prior to Week 1.
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 10, 2021

Tim Tebow last appeared in an NFL regular season game in 2012. That season, Adrian Peterson won league MVP, RG3 won Offensive Rookie of the Year, Luke Kuechly won Defensive Rookie of the Year, and Joe Flacco was Super Bowl MVP.#Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence was 12 years old.
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) May 10, 2021

It’s been six years since Tebow even played an exhibition game. Tebow seemingly moved on from football when he pursued a baseball career, playing in the New York Mets’ minor-league system from 2017 to 2019.

It would’ve been hard enough for Tebow to make the transition from quarterback to tight end when he was drafted. Becoming an NFL-quality tight end after a nine-year hiatus away from football seems highly unlikely.

Tebow is one of the most popular athletes to ever play in Florida. There was speculation early in Tebow’s career that he might join the Jaguars.

“He did come in for a workout several weeks ago or whatever that was,” Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke told The Florida Times-Union last week. “He worked out as a tight end and that’s the position he’ll be playing. Right now, where it stands, we’re going to get through the draft and our whole focus, quite honestly, has been on the draft. We’ll worry about that when the draft is over.”

Jacksonville selected quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick in the 2021 draft.