New York Jets Fans Should at Least Give Tebow a Chance Before Slamming Trade

The fallout from Peyton Manning's decision to sign with the Denver Broncos has been as sudden as it is seismic, and the latest quake to hit as a result of Manning's signing struck the East Coast Wednesday when the Broncos traded quarterback Tim Tebow to the New York Jets, as reported by ESPN.

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After a big false start, the New York Jets pulled off a Tebow-like comeback Wednesday night, getting the quarterback who turned the Denver Broncos from an also-ran into a playoff team last season and became the NFL's most talked-about player—for a fourth- and sixth-round draft pick.

The Jets also agreed to pay $2.53 million of a salary advance due Tebow, league sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, after the question of who would pay that advance nearly unraveled the trade and gave the Jacksonville Jaguars one last shot at bringing the ex-Florida Gators hero back home.

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The trade has set of a firestorm of controversy in the Big Apple, and while some supporters of Gang Green have come out in favor of the news, many in New York have been up in arms that the Jets acquired a new one, including the most famous player in Jets history.

Quarterback Joe Namath, who led New York to victory in Super Bowl III, is apparently none too pleased with the Jets' latest personnel move, and he made that displeasure known while speaking with USA Today.

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I think it stinks. That's not a pat on the back. That's a slap in the face...If I were there, I'd be pissed off about. But still go to work and try to make things work. But not be happy about it.

As far as Sanchez goes, I try to put myself as a QB in that situation and it's confusion. You've got to have to have some doubts about what you've been told. Can you believe what you've been told by your coach and your general manager? Or do you do what you're supposed to do which is shut your mouth and go do your job? But that's easier said than done. It's constantly a distraction. It will be distraction.

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However, before Jets fans take a page from another AFC East team and begin protesting outside team headquarters, it may be a good idea to take a step back, take a nice deep breat, and think for a moment about how this trade could actually help the team.

At the very least Tebow should add a new dimension to the numerous Wildcat packages that the Jets employ on offense, and while New York may have paid a steep price for a gadget player, Tebow could potentially be used as a spark should the Jets offense stagnate, according to an interview that New York general manager Mike Tannenbaum gave to ESPN Radio.

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If our offense is sputtering, and we have, say, three three-and-outs, and we roll this out there and it's successful, who knows. I think it will just depend on the game and the situation.

You've seen it, Tim is really effective with the ball in his hands, both running it and throwing it. He can throw the ball deep. Typically, when you run the Wildcat, the line of scrimmage gets a little bit crowded, and when you throw the ball over people's heads, we think we can have explosive plays out of that package as well.

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Those comments could seem to potentially create just the sort of distraction that Namath bemoaned, but to be brutally honest, quarterback Mark Sanchez regressed in his third season despite posting the best stats of his career, and after recently being inked to a three-year extension Sanchez seemed just as willing to create distractions of his own, lashing out publicly at unnamed teammates who criticized the signal-caller over the offseason.

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It is a gutless thing to do. If you're not going to put your name on something, why waste anybody's time? Obviously, they had strong opinions about it, but not strong enough to say who they were.

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That sort of sniping was a large part of the locker room dysfunction that dogged the Jets throughout a disappointing 8-8 2011 campaign, and it's very possible that Sanchez's latest hissyfit gave Jets brass misgivings about his ability to effectively lead the team and motivated the club to pursue the acquisition of a plan B under center.

Granted, Tannenbaum has been clear that Sanchez is the starting quarterback for the Jets and Tebow is the backup, telling a group of reporters via a conference call relayed by CBS Sports.

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[Mark and Tim] are both very clear on what their roles will be. Every quarterback in the NFL has a backup and we just changed who ours is.

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However, should the divisiveness that ate at the Jets all of last season continue, or if the Jets come out of the gate slowly, Rex Ryan will at least have options (so to speak) to choose from, and while Tebow's throwing motion isn't going to draw comparisons to Dan Marino any time soon, the third-year pro has demonstrated both the ability to win games in the NFL and to rally his teammates around him.

That may well never come to pass, and in fact it's very possible that Tebow may barely see the field and fade from phenom to obscurity, but before Jets fans storm the gates with their pitchforks and torches, they may want to relax for a second, as the same player they're now railing against they may clamor for in October if New York comes out of the gate 1-3 in 2012.

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