Jaguars Waive Gator Great Tim Tebow
The experiment in Duval is over: The Jacksonville Jaguars have waived Florida Gators great Tim Tebow, which the former quarterback-turned-tight end first shared via social media on Tuesday. The Jaguars would confirm the news later in the morning.
"Thankful for the highs and even the lows, the opportunities, and the setbacks. I've never wanted to make decisions out of fear of failure and I'm grateful for the chance to have pursued a dream..." Tebow wrote on Twitter. "Thank you to the Jaguars organization and everyone who has supported me in this journey.
The Jaguars, under the leadership of new head coach Urban Meyer, signed Tebow in May and began to teach him the tight end position after his eight-year hiatus from football.
The move was met with criticism far and wide as Tebow had never played the position before and spent significant time away from the game - leading to the perception that Meyer, Tebow's former head coach at Florida, was doing the legendary Gator a favor.
Despite a couple of flashy practices catching the ball, the criticism was valid in hindsight. Tebow appeared in one preseason game with Jacksonville and looked lost, struggling to handle the blocking responsibilities that come with the position. In addition, he saw one target across his 15 snaps but did not catch a pass.
Tebow's signing led to tremendous jersey sales in his hometown of Jacksonville and gave the team plenty of publicity, but it was never realistic to expect Tebow to emerge as a legitimate contributor at his new position.
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