Tim Tebow Will Never Measure Up

Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos has never had the measurables you expect from a quarterback drafted in the first round. He’s not very accurate, he has a slow delivery and his pocket presence leaves something to be desired.

Pegged as a running quarterback he doesn’t possess the blazing speed of a Michael Vick or a Cam Newton. No one will ever watch him throw one of his wobbly passes and confuse him with the likes of a Tom Brady, Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers.

There’s not a single person in professional football or the media who will look at Tebow and ever envision that he could match the potential of Andy Dalton or Matthew Stafford. Simply put, they don’t believe that there is much of a ceiling for Tebow but that is where people err.

Sure it’s easy to doubt him when you compare him to all of these other quarterbacks. If there’s anything that Tebow has shown us this year it’s that he is not your average quarterback.

What’s different about Tebow is he excels at the things that can’t be measured. If you could take every quarterback in the league and measure their heart, leadership, fearlessness in the face of pressure, desire, instincts and ability to inspire then Tebow would already be considered a top-five quarterback.

Sure there are limits on what Tebow can do on the field and will be able to do in the future but he’s not as limited as people think. Tebow has athleticism and most of the stuff that people complain he doesn’t do so well is teachable to a certain extent.

What will ultimately determine his success is what goes on above his shoulders. Quarterback is a thinking position. A quarterback has to decipher a ton of information in mere seconds and then react.

Tebow hasn’t been playing very long in the NFL and like all young quarterbacks he will get better at the mental side of the game the more he plays. What should really scare people about Tebow is that his instincts are largely what is carrying him right now. He’s going to be even more dangerous once he truly learns the game.

So what he accomplished in the Broncos’ Wild Card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers may be just the tip of the iceberg. As Tebow develops more of a rapport with his receivers and becomes more comfortable in Denver’s offensive system, he will continue to make his doubters look foolish. His mechanics and passing numbers will also improve as he plays.

Although no one will ever be worried that he will break Drew Brees’s newly set single-season yardage mark, Tebow does have the potential to put up some very good numbers in the future. As people continue to judge Tebow by his measurables they will continue to miss what makes Tebow so special. His immeasurables. 

Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and also writes for both The Penalty Flag and Outside The Redzone. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @Sportmentalist.