Tebow Mania: What's Next for Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos?

Tebow Mania is officially over for the 2011 season.

Tim Tebow was inserted as a starter after a 1-4 start with Kyle Orton. No one expected much more than that. What followed was an 8-5 roller coaster ride that came with the ups and downs like we have never seen. 

As a fan of Tebow's, watching him play since his senior year of high school in 2005, I was one of few who thought he would be successful in the NFL.

In his wins as a starter, he made a couple of plays that were the deciding factor and showed glimpses of why Josh McDaniels reached for him in the first round. In his losses, he was the main reason (or scapegoat, depending on who you ask) for the failure, and showed why some believed he wouldn't be a quarterback in this league.

But what was the final verdict on Tebow?

From a throwing standpoint, he was below average to mediocre at best. He completed 46 percent of his passes, which was one of the lowest in the league. He often missed badly and lacked great footwork. His throwing motion led to a lot of sacks and late throws. He also lacks the pocket presence to be elite at this stage of his career. He holds the ball extremely long at times and seems lost when his primary option is covered. He also still has a way to go when it comes to reading defenses.

His best skill, obviously, is his running ability. In his 11 starts during the regular season, he ran for 660 yards, which is the equivalent of having another running back on the field. It added another dimension to the offense that the Broncos tailored for him. He quickly became the Broncos' best option on short yardage runs. The problem with that became that the offense was very vanilla and didn't truly challenge the defenses much, if at all. 

Looking into the offseason, Tebow is in a great position to grow for the future. He has a year of experience as a starter, a playoff win and apparently the backing of the management in place. Now with a full offseason as the surefire number one guy and a chance to completely get entrenched with the first team, if all goes well, he can make a drastic improvement statistically and stylistically.