Buckle up, New York City, the circus is coming to town.
The New York Jets traded for quarterback Tim Tebow today, one day after the announcement of Peyton Manning as the new starting quarterback in Denver. The Jets get Tebow and a 7th round draft pick in exchange for the Jets 4th and 6th round pics. It ends one of the most unusual and improbably stints at quarterback in the history of the league.
Tebow was drafted in the first round two years ago, in a surprise move by Josh McDaniels and the Broncos, as Tebow was projected to go far lower in the Draft. As the Broncos fans chanted for him in each loss, he was finally given his shot to take over a 1-4 Broncos team and led them to an 8-8 record and a stunning playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. His 8 victories included six fourth-quarter comebacks.
With the signing of Peyton Manning, Tebow became expendable and was traded in less than 24 hours.
Last night, on the prospect of Tebow coming to the Jets, the reaction was mixed. One unnamed source wasn’t sure how well Sanchez would take Tebow coming to town. “I don’t know how he’d handle it,” the source said of Sanchez. “That would be interesting.”
And Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie was more open in his assessment, tweeting: “We don’t need Tebow.”
Cromartie also tweeted: “We have (Sanchez) and just signed Drew. Mark has taken us to 2 AFC championship game. We need to build on the team we have now.”
Despite Cromartie’s protests, Tebow is on his way to town.
The Jets offensive coordinator is Tony Sparano, the man who introduced the Wildcat offense to the league while in Miami, and Tebow is likely seen as a Wildcat option. But if (or when) Sanchez has a bad game, the chants will inevitably start for Tebow to be put in. And after the miracles he produced at Mile High, who can blame Jets fans.
It’s going to be an interesting year in New York. I think its time to get the Hard Knocks cameras back in there.
