The Jacksonville Jaguars cut one of the most popular figures in the football community in Tim Tebow yesterday, which made them one of Monday’s trending topics. The decision came when the Jags needed to trim their roster down to 85 players on Tuesday, which gave the team some time to evaluate what they saw during their first preseason game against the Cleveland Browns.
Of course, with Urban Meyer speaking with the media Tuesday afternoon he had nothing but respect and kind words for the player who once led his collegiate teams in Gainesville. He also said the decision came down to Tebow only being able to help on the offensive end and not on special teams like many non-starters are often required to do.
“It was special teams,” Meyer said. “This whole roster management is really critical as we journey here into the next two weeks. Two of the special teams phases are tackling and he had never tackled. That’s what I found myself and I still find myself, all of us. Every off day we’ll have a two-to-three-hour meeting about roster management, and it comes down [to that] because we expect to be very good on special teams. The tight end position is one of those [positions], and tailback, if you can’t contribute on special teams, that’s a tough go.”
When looking at the team’s snap chart, Tebow was the only tight end on the roster who didn’t see a special teams snap on Saturday. Even the Jags’ top-2 tight ends James O’Shaughnessy and Chris Manhertz saw at least saw one rep on special teams, so a tight end on the back end of the depth chart would definitely need to be able to contribute there.
As for his performance on the offensive side, he struggled with the blocking aspect of the game tremendously. He also wasn’t able to register a catch, although he was targeted once.
With Tebow’s time with the Jags up, it will be interesting to see what’s next on his agenda. Whether that’s taking another crack at sports or furthering his career as a sports analyst, it’s clear that he has many supporters, and the football community will always be keeping track of his next moves.