The Philadelphia Eagles signed free agent quarterback Tim Tebow to a one-year contract Sunday worth the league minimum salary.
Tebow, a two-time national champion (2007, 2009) and the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner while at the University of Florida from 2006-09, last played in the regular season in 2012 for the New York Jets.
Modell Sporting Goods, a retailer with 25 stores in New York and New Jersey, which sold Tebow T-shirts and jerseys when the Jets signed the quarterback in March 2012, took notice of the signing.
“We are not going to be selling a lot of Tebow jerseys,” CEO Mitch Modell said in an espn.go.com article.
In my opinion, there are three questions that need to be addressed with this signing:
1) Is Kelly tinkering too much with his roster?
Kelly is tinkering with the roster to find consistency at the quarterback position. The other position player changes that have occurred this offseason show Kelly’s position in the organizational hierarchy.
2) Will this signing provide the team with the depth to run an offensive scheme similar to what he ran while at Oregon?
Unfortunately for Tebow in Philadelphia, there appears to a difference in skill set and scheme fits one party but not the other. Tebow’s skill set in read-option spread offense from his days at Florida gives the team a problem. With the roster turnover, Tebow’s position on the depth chart and the speed of the offensive scheme for the 2015 season the signing of Tim Tebow leaves the organization with more questions after the ones I have mentioned here.
3) Does this provide Tebow with another opportunity to revitalize his NFL career?
It takes time to develop chemistry between a new quarterback and skill position players, which is a plus for the two-time national champion to learn the team’s playbook and develop chemistry with his new teammates during offseason workouts and training camp.
My prediction: I see Kelly’s offensive scheme and Tebow’s skill set clashing in this attempt to revitalize the professional career of one the legends of college football. However, I see this opportunity as the best way to utilize Tebow’s talents better than his in his time with the Denver Broncos (2010-2011) and New York Jets (2012).
