Tim Tebow Should Be Cut? Why the Jets Should Ignore Boomer Esiason

Tim Tebow’s charisma and glistening Herculean abs have caused fans to flock to Cortland by the thousands. If last year was “Tebowmania,” somebody is going to need to come up with an even more powerful catchphrase for the upcoming one. 

However, at least one man remains un-amused. Boomer Esiason had this to say with regards to Tebow on his radio show, Boomer and Carlton in the Morning, this past Monday: 

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I’m just telling you right now, I would [cut him], and I’ll tell you why I would. It’s not in any way, shape or form—I think—benefiting this team... All you have to do is watch him throw the ball. Just watch him… You can say whatever you want about Tim Tebow. He played some of the worst football that any quarterback has ever played in the history of the game last year at times. 

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Why don’t you tell us how you really feel? 

Naturally, once the faithful caught wind of such blasphemy, the uproar came quicker than it takes Tebow to release a football. Tim Hasselbeck told the New York Post it was “an idiotic statement.” Skip Bayless thanked Boomer on ESPN’s First Take for, “providing the gasoline for the fire of Tim Tebow.”  (He continued to say, “This is what turns the fire of him into a raging bonfire” so thankfully we still got Skip’s trademarked brutally and pointlessly drawn out Tebow analogy.) 

Regardless of how one feels about the entire situation, releasing Tim Tebow now would be absolutely Chris Bridges for these three reasons. 

Risk vs. Reward

Drew Brees’s new contract is worth roughly $20 million a year and twice that amount in year one. Peyton Manning will be getting $96 million over five years. Quarterbacks get paid the big bucks because, ideally, they play a key role in every game and are directly responsible for a bulk of their team’s wins. 

How many games will the Saints win this season largely because of one or two plays made by Brees? Five? Ten? Thirteen? Even if Drew carries New Orleans to 16 wins in 2012, they will still be paying him a hefty $2.5 million dollars per win.    

Tebow’s contract with New York will vary based on his ability to meet incentives, but suffice to say that he will be making in the vicinity of $3 million in 2012 and $6 million over the course of three years. 

Only time will tell how Tebow gets implemented. That said, if he does anything to get New York one more win than they would have had without him—be it via crucial runs, play-action passes or motivational pep talks—the move has paid off. 

That, more so than any other reason, is why I support the Tebow move. Forget about the various subplots to the acquisition. Who cares whether he is a running back or the starting QB? Just a single extra tally in the win column will generate a win-to-payment ratio that is more favorable than what Drew can give New Orleans.

Team Trust

Whether the initial acquisition of Tim Tebow was a good move can be debated. Maybe it was just for attention. Maybe it undermined New York’s supposed intention to give Mark Sanchez a sense of security. Both are fair criticisms, although I have to question how much confidence one could possibly have in Sanchez if he or she believes the latter to be true. 

Boomer was obviously never a fan of the transaction. Neither was Joe Namath, who told ESPN this past spring, "I do not agree with this situation. I can't agree with it. I just think it's a publicity stunt. I really think it's wrong. I can't go for it." 

There’s really nothing wrong with these comments. It’s naive for the Jets to expect some type of unconditional support from their former quarterbacks—especially these two. We are talking about one guy who has his own radio show and another one who was one of the brashest quarterbacks to ever play the game. At least Namath cares about the team struggling.   

But saying “the move should have never been made” is very different from demanding that Tebow be cut now. You can’t just cut someone because you feel like it. 

What kind of message would it send to the rest of the team if, one day, the management just decides they’ve had enough of someone—especially when that player has done everything right? Now that would cause team drama. 

The entire integrity of the front office would be gone. Moreover, it would be an open admission that New York made a mistake of drastic proportions and there has been nothing to happen thus far that would suggest such a thing. 

Like many things that are said on sports talk radio, Boomer’s quote should not be taken literally. Boomer merely wanted to establish his point of view so that, if and when Tebow struggles, he can say, “See! I told you so!” This is hardly a unique or otherwise inappropriate occurrence among sports pundits. 

Boomer isn’t ignorant; he knows New York won’t cut Tebow just because he said so.  

ALL Retired Player Feedback Should Be Ignored

The world of today offers more opportunities than ever for regretful, bored or power-tripping ex-players to give their two-cents on league and team matters.

Like I said on the previous slide, you can’t really blame them for it. 

Wouldn’t every fan like to be able to contact their favorite teams directly? Wouldn’t it be great if every time I said, “What in the world are they doing running on third down?” some reporter asked the coaches to defend their decision because of what I said? What are retired players but fans with a pulpit? 

Imagine what would transpire if players or teams actually cared about this kind of stuff. 

Some people were critical of Tebow for not taking a harder stance against Boomer, as seen in the Skip Bayless debate from the introductory slide. That’s just ridiculous. It’s beneath Tebow to worry about what Boomer or any other ex-player has to say about him. 

This is especially true about retired quarterbacks. You often hear about “the fraternity of football players” or some other abstract jargon to that same effect, but these are the guys who tend to be the hardest on Tebow. Maybe it’s because he defies everything they were ever taught, but it seems no amount of winning can mitigate old quarterbacks’ criticisms. 

Boomer says Tebow should go and maybe he won’t complete his current deal as a New York Jet. Maybe after a disappointing season the Jets do release or trade him. But when the time comes to make that type of decision, you can be sure nobody in the room is going to say, “I think we should take Boomer’s advice.”