Training Camp 2012: Boomer Esiason's Not Wrong About Tim Tebow, Jets QBs

I certainly haven’t been as enamored with talking about New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow as many others in the media.

But there’s a reason for that: I generally don’t spend a lot of time talking about backup quarterbacks. I will say I’ve noticed a massive increase in the amount of time spent covering the Jets’ training camp in Cortland, N.Y. this summer as opposed to last.

Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason, however, made no bones about what he thinks of the quarterback situation with the Jets. Esiason let loose on New York sports talk station WFAN’s The Boomer and Carton Show Monday morning. The upshot? The Jets should cut Tebow and be done with it.

Tebow was, well, generally awful during the Jets' Green & White scrimmage on Saturday. He completed 1-of-4 passes, ran three times for 14 yards and fumbled two snaps. The one completion he had was a short pass on a fake punt.

Boomer’s point is essentially the one he—and I—were making during Denver’s run to the playoffs last year: Watch Tebow throw the ball and it becomes readily apparent.

Earlier in camp, I was watching some skeleton drills being run by the Jets’ quarterbacks and receivers. No pass rush, no defensive backs and at the NFL level the ball really should rarely, if ever, touch the ground.

It didn’t when starting quarterback Mark Sanchez was throwing. It didn’t when second-year quarterback Greg McElroy was throwing. It didn’t when undrafted rookie free agent Matt Simms was throwing.

Then there were those times Tebow was throwing. Balls were high. They were low. They were too far in front or too far behind. Call me rigid in my thinking, but I figure if any NFL quarterback can’t complete just about every pass he throws with no defense on the field, he’s probably not an NFL quarterback.

My eyes don’t lie. I said it last year and I’ll join with Esiason and say now: Dude can’t throw.

Honestly, I had no idea what Mike Tannenbaum was thinking when he traded for Tebow last spring. Was the Jets’ general manager thinking of improving the product on the field or was he thinking of a way to knock the defending champion Giants off the back page of the New York tabloids?

I can hear the arguments forming now: But Tebow was great in those goal-line Wildcat drills last week. Of course he was. He did much more running than passing and, as he proved both at Florida and with the Denver Broncos, running's not the issue. But sure, he looked like the second-coming of Sid Luckman out there.

Many Tebow fans have spent the last 24 hours or so bashing Esiason for expressing this opinion.

Sure, what does Esiason know about playing quarterback in the NFL? He only did it for 14 years and only did it well enough to play in four Pro Bowls and win an MVP award while leading the Cincinnati Bengals to a Super Bowl, so yeah, dude doesn’t know diddly-poo about the position.

And of course, neither does John Elway out in Denver, who, to listen to some of the Tebowmaniacs, got rid of Tebow because he was jealous of Tebow’s popularity.

Yeah, Elway was so threatened by Tebow’s mojo and his place as the best quarterback in Bronco history that he brought in Peyton Manning, a guy in the conversation with Elway as some of the best quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL.

Now I’m a bit more practical than Boomer, though. Cutting Tebow is messy.

The mistake was getting him in the first place.