The Most Obvious Question We Aren't Asking About The Tim Tebow Signing...Can He Catch?
A lot of questions and debates have obviously been sparked since the news of Tebow likely signing a deal with the Jaguars to bring him back to the NFL for the first time in two Presidential administrations.
Does he deserve another shot? Is it fair to other players? What about Kaepernick? How big of a distraction will he be? Will he mentor Trevor Lawrence? Sure, sure, sure. That's all fine and well, but my number one question is one that I feel is being highly overlooked especially for the role he reportedly is signed to play:
Can he catch a football?
The question seems dumb on the surface - especially for a former Heisman Trophy winner and someone who is widely regarded as one of the best college football players of all time. But we're not talking about pitch and catch in the backyard on Thanksgiving just tossing the ol' pigskin around. I looked up some Tim Tebow workout videos to help illustrate my point of being skeptical about whether or not the dude can catch and found this from 75gator83:
I've seen that route before.
I just have a hard time seeing Tebow's shredded 4.74 running ass hitting a seam or out route and catching a bullet from Trevor Lawrence cleanly between a defender or two. It's like that kid in middle school or high school who was blazing fast except he was only blazing fast in a straight line. "Put that dude at receiver! Pitch it to him at running back!" everyone wanted but when you'd ask him to run a 10 yard out route then turn and look for the ball his speed became useless.
There are a lot of great athletes who are superb at one thing but look completely out of water trying something else. Like Charles Barkley's old golf swing. Or Draymond Green trying his hand at football…even the same position as Tebow will try in Jacksonville. Remember that?
Tebow is the weirdest best athlete of all time. Not super athletic. Isn't lightning fast or quick. Obviously his arm didn't work out in the NFL. Nothing he does looks smooth or effortless. He's just the bully in pop warner who is bigger and stronger than everyone else already showing armpit hair while everyone else's helmet weighs more than their body except he did it on the ultimate level of college football.
So everyone can keep talking about the distractions, or whether or not he's deserving, or the unfairness of Tebow's connections, but all I'll keep looking for is to see if those barrels of arms will be able to soften up enough to actually catch a meaningful football. If he gets signed.