The Jaguars have run out of football reasons to not sign Tim Tebow

Florida Times-Union sportswriter Gene Frenette wrote a column last December titled Marketing Not Good Reason to Sign Tebow. He argued that Tebow's popularity in Jacksonville was a bad reason to bring him to the Jaguars:

The Jaguars should only go after (Tebow) if they have a specific role in mind and believe he can help them win.  Nothing else matters.

Frenette is right.  Successful NFL franchises make personnel decisions based on football reasons.  Signing Tebow for ticket and jersey sales would do a disservice to the Jaguars, the fans, and Tebow.  If the Jaguars do not have a good football reason to bring him to Jacksonville, they should not bring him here.

However, the flip side of this premise is equally true.  The decision not to sign Tebow should also be based solely on football reasons.  If Tebow can help the Jaguars win, then nothing else matters.



Tebow could help the Jaguars win as a situational quarterback in the red zone.  The Jaguars are the worst team in the NFL in red zone scoring percentage by a wide margin.  This season they have scored on 27% of their red zone opportunities, ten percentage points below the next worst team.  The Jaguars highlighted their red zone impotence against San Francisco by twice failing to score from 1st and goal, including once from the 5 yard line.

Tim Tebow is an effective red zone threat.  Denver's red zone scoring percentage with Tebow as starting QB was 47%, twice as good as the Jaguars.  Tebow is a devastating red zone runner.  He scored 11 touchdowns on 24 red zone rushes with Denver, for a 45% red zone rushing TD rate.  That is better than any running back in the NFL last year with more than 10 red zone carries.  He scored an incredible 10 touchdowns out of 12 carries inside the opponent's 10 yard line with Denver.

A read option package with Tebow and Maurice Jones-Drew would be tough to stop in the red zone. It would also force opponents to spend practice time preparing for something other than the Jaguars base offense, which might help Henne or Gabbert be more successful.  Finally, Tebow's fiery leadership style could bring a competitive spark to a team described by Frenette last week as "listless + gutless = winless."

The Jaguars have publicly stated two primary reasons not to sign Tebow.  First, they wanted to see if Gabbert or Henne was their future franchise QB.  Everyone knows the outcome of that experiment now.  As Frenette said today, "It's a foregone conclusion that Chad Henne and Blaine Gabbert aren't the answer at quarterback."  The Jaguars will draft a new franchise QB next year, almost certainly with the first pick of the first round.

Second, the Jaguars wanted to go in a different direction with their offensive system than the kind suitable for Tebow.  Installing a situational package does not require changing the base system.  The Patriots installed a read-option package for Tebow and moved the ball effectively with only a few weeks of practice.  Beyond that, worrying about the system is futile when the GM intends to completely remake the roster over the next two years.  The system will have to be adjusted anyways once they add the talent they say they lack now.

The real reason the Jaguars do not want Tebow is that Caldwell comes from the Polian management tree, and the Polians loathe Tebow's playing style.  They have long maintained that Tebow will never be good enough to be an NFL quarterback.  Really?  A QB who took a 1-4 team to the playoffs is not good enough to play on a team currently contending for the worst record in NFL history?  It is literally impossible to do worse than the Jaguars have done so far this year.  According to Khan, most of the players on the team are not good enough.  What's one more going to hurt?

Let's be honest: only non-football reasons to avoid Tebow remain:

• Media Circus: Belichick showed how to deal with the media hysteria.  Do not cater to it.  Treat Tebow like any other player and ignore the media until they stop asking about him.  Would the Jaguars rather field questions about their performance and record?
• Quarterback Controversy:  The Jaguars already have a QB controversy. The controversy is that neither current QB is any good, and the team may not win a single game this year.  Since it is clear they will not commit to Gabbert or Henne for next year, the team can try whatever it wants at QB for the remainder of this year.  Nobody is going to criticize them for trying almost anything at this point.
• GM Obstinance:  Dave Caldwell publicly stated "I can't imagine a scenario in which he'll be a Jacksonville Jaguar".  Did he imagine being 0-8 and headed towards the second winless season in modern NFL history?  Does that change his assessment?  Is he sticking to his position for football reasons or to avoid looking like he gave in to fan pressure?
• Moving the Team: Many people suspect that Shad Khan secretly wants to move the Jaguars to LA or London.  Goodell's comments this week, Khan's purchase of Fulham FC, and aggressive marketing of the Jaguars as the London "home team" all fan the flames of suspicion.  Continuing to depress home field attendance by losing would make it easier to persuade the NFL to allow a franchise move.  Just saying.

All of this raises a larger question for Khan and Caldwell: what is the Jaguars' purpose for the rest of this season?  Is their top priority to win as many of their remaining games as possible, or have they already written off 2013 as an extended preseason for 2014?  Is head coach Gus Bradley on board with that?  Are the players, who will be asked to risk season- or career-ending injury for games that don't matter?  Is it any wonder they are listless?  You would be too if you were only playing because the league says you have to.

If Khan and Caldwell are genuine about wanting to win games this year, then there are no good football reasons left to avoid signing Tim Tebow.  If they do not care about winning this year, then it may make sense to keep Tebow away for non-football reasons.  However, if that is the case, it is hard to see how they deserve to keep the support of the dwindling fan base or avoid scrutiny by the media.