Why no team claimed Tebow on waivers

If you are a dedicated Tim Tebow fan, the past few days may have seemed like a never-ending pile of indignities. First, the Jets drafted Geno Smith. Then the Jets released Tebow. Finally, today at 4pm EST Tebow cleared waivers, with no NFL team claiming him.
Tebow clearing waivers seems especially perplexing. Why did this happen? Does it really mean that no NFL team wants him at all? Ever?
No. His price on waivers was simply too high.

A quick primer on Tebow and the waiver system

If you are a Tim Tebow fan like me, you are scouring the internet for signs of his next destination. If you want to fully understand the process as it unfolds, you need to know how the NFL's rules for released players apply to him.
Because Tebow has less than 4 years in the NFL, he is not classified as a veteran under the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Therefore, he did not become a free agent immediately when released by the Jets. First, he must go through the waivers process. Here's how that works:

Cutting Tebow before the Draft would be stupid

The latest Tebow-hater theme is how dumb the Jets are for hoping to trade him. Obviously no team would ever give up anything of value for Tebow, so the Jets should just cut him now and be done with it. So the thinking goes.
I'm not sure how many of these people actually believe that, and how many are just taking another cheap and easy shot at Tebow. Heaping scorn and derision on various targets is apparently a major pastime of the Twitterverse and Blogosphere. For example, there are apparently whole online communities devoted to hating Anne Hathaway. Go figure.
However, in the case of Tebow, even national sportswriters have picked up this theme. For that reason, it is worth demonstrating exactly how facile their argument is.

Seahawks to join the "Nuclear Option"

Previously I wrote about The Nuclear Option.  To recap, that rather than accepting a backup job, Tebow should sit out the pre-season and wait for a team's QB depth chart to collapse during the season.  At that point, desperation to save their jobs might override a GM and HC's aversion to the "distraction" that Tebow allegedly brings with him. Several teams are in danger of finding themselves in that situation, mostly due to inaction during the off-season.
However, I did not expect a team to voluntarily move themselves into that category, and certainly not a team that got within one game of the Superbowl. But that is exactly what the Seahawks have chosen to do by trading away Matt Flynn and failing to obtain a suitable replacement.

The power of sleep

Last week I played three soccer games in 24 hours.  On Saturday night, I played a game of 8v8 on an over-20 league.  On Sunday afternoon, I played two regulation games in a row of 11v11 on a full sized soccer field in an over-25 league.  While both leagues are coed recreational leagues, both are also fairly competitive, with many players having played at the college level.  Everyone plays hard, especially in the 11v11 league.

I am 48 years old.  I have only been playing soccer for 3 years.  After the last game, I was physically exhausted, barely able to drive home, sore everywhere but especially in my lower body.

Yet the next day I felt fine.  I had plenty of energy and little soreness anywhere.  I even went to the gym for a squat workout.

So what happened?  Sleep happened.  I went to bed and slept for 10 hours.  I slept until I woke up and could not go back to sleep.

The Nuclear Option revisited

Last month I proposed that Tim Tebow consider the "Nuclear Option".  The premise of that option is that if Tebow cannot get on a team where he has a fair shot to compete for a starting position, he should decline to sign a contact and start the 2013 regular season as a free agent.  While a wildly risky approach, the reward would be the potential for Tebow to take a starting position once one or more teams' QB depth charts collapse during the regular season.  As a free agent he would be available when desperate teams start looking around for a lifeline, and he could pick where he goes, while he would not be able to take the opportunity if he was entrenched as a backup on another team.

Now that the major roster moves are firming up, let's look and see which teams are most likely to discover their plans suck.  Below are the Top 10 teams in draft order for the upcoming draft, and their likely starting and backup QBs.  All of them are there because of mediocre or poor QB play last year, and all of them hope to improve that play this year.

1. Kansas City: Smith / Quinn
2. Jacksonville: Gabbert / Henne
3. Oakland:  Flynn / Pryor
4. Philadelphia: Vick / Foles
5. Detroit: Stafford / Hill
6. Cleveland: Weeden / Hasselbeck
7. Arizona: Palmer / Stanton
8. Buffalo: Kolb / Jackson
9. New York Jets: Sanchez / Garrard
10. Tennessee: Locker / Fitzpatrick