Did Tim Tebow Make a Mistake by Saying No to His Latest Offer?
Try as he may, one of the most famous college quarterbacks ever cannot convince pro football executives that baseball is his love. So, Tim Tebow has had to turn down yet another league while getting ready for the 2020 season in the New York Mets organization.
Tebow said no to the Alliance of American Football a year ago in what proved to be a wise decision since the AAF didn’t make it through its first season.
Now, Tebow has revealed that the XFL has also come calling but he turned them down.
Would Tim Tebow be a good fit for the XFL?
The new edition of the XFL, which began play this month, has drawn positive reviews for its innovations and respectable quality of play. What the league lacks, however, is players with name recognition. Although most of the starting XFL quarterbacks have had a taste of the NFL, none are huge names.
Landry Jones of the Dallas Renegades might be the best-known of the bunch courtesy of his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2013-17. Other XFL quarterbacks including John Johnson of the Los Angeles Wildcats and Matt McGloin of the New York Guardians played multiple NFL seasons, but none are as intriguing as Tim Tebow.
Tebow’s exploits at the University of Florida, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 2007, arguably trump all XFL quarterbacks combined. The fact that he hasn’t played pro football since 12 games with the New York Jets in 2012 suggests that the decision to approach Tebow may have been a reach by the XFL.
The league is already competing with MLB headlines out of spring training and an NBA that picks up momentum after the NFL season. College basketball conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament will follow, as will NFL free agency.
Was Tim Tebow a good NFL quarterback?
Tim Tebow’s heroics at the University of Florida made him a top TV attraction. He averaged nearly 3,000 passing yards a season in his sophomore through senior seasons, threw for 83 touchdowns, and ran for 49 scores.
Debate raged during his three-year NFL career whether Tebow had the necessary skills. He started 11 regular-season games for the Denver Broncos in 2011, his second pro season, and went 7-4 in addition to winning a playoff game. But Tebow completed just 46.5% of his throws and was traded to the New York Jets before the 2012 draft.
One season in New York, where the Jets regarded him as a fullback or tight end, and a brief tour of NFL teams as a free agent convinced Tebow to leave for a career in television.
Will Tim Tebow make it to MLB with the New York Mets?
Tim Tebow didn’t leave the playing field permanently after a disappointing season with the New York Jets. He signed a contract with baseball’s New York Mets in 2016 and has been in their minor-league organization since.
From the start, many observers have regarded the Mets’ experiment with Tebow as a stunt because he began his pro baseball career at 28, a decade older than many rookies.
The Mets pushed him through their system despite the outfielder never hitting better than .231 in the low minors. Tebow did hit .273 with Binghamton of the Class AA Eastern League in 2018, but he also struck out 103 times in just 271 at-bats and missed more than a third of the season with injuries.
Tebow played the 2019 season in Syracuse of the Class AAA International League, where he again lost time to injuries and finished with a .163 average and 98 strikeouts in 239 at-bats.
Tebow understands time is running out on his baseball ambitions. He’s 32 years old (Michael Jordan was 31 when he flirted with baseball) and needs to perform well in this training camp to give the Mets a reason to keep him in their plans.
“There’s been a lot of ups and downs. When you think about a goal, you don’t really think about all the lows and there definitely has been some lows and some sucky times, but
TIM TEBOWthere’s also been some awesome times and I think it’s a good picture of life, too — there’s a lot of ups and downs and it’s kind of balancing them and handling them.”
