Tim Tebow Must Change Positions to Save His Football Career

If Tim Tebow wants to have any shot at prolonging his NFL career, he needs to do whatever it takes.

And that includes changing positions.

The embattled quarterback has gone from the Denver Broncos' savior in 2011-12 to an afterthought. He languished on the bench with the New York Jets in 2012, despite starter Mark Sanchez playing horrible football, and then he was cut by the New England Patriots before this season. 

Getting cut by the Patriots was a surprise to some. It could be a death sentence for Tebow in the National Football League.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was seen as a guy who could make something useful of the 6'3", 236-pounder. Given his knack for being a creative play-caller, some believed he could at least make Tebow into a halfback or a fullback or a tight end or a special teams player or something.

But Tebow was officially released on Aug. 31; he tweeted out his appreciation to the Patriots organization, and then, poof, he was gone, like Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects. He went from part man, part myth, to, simply, a ghost.

But Vinny Testaverde, who concocted some magic of his own throughout his football career, has some advice for Tebow after helping him work on his quarterbacking skills during the spring. 

Testaverde said, via Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post:

"

My feeling on it is, tell anybody and everybody that you’ll do whatever it takes to make the team, whether it’s returning kicks or being a personal protector on the punt team. Then, once you’re there on a team, you can work on your quarterbacking. Get on a team first, learn the offense, do what they ask you, and then whether you stay after practice or sneak into quarterback meeting rooms [is up to you].

"

Boom.

It's unclear what Tebow's stance has been in regard to changing positions, but he can't be that interested if not a single team has called him since being cut by the Patriots. He has the build to help out at different positions. Even Jets coach Rex Ryan, who gave him a grand total of eight pass attempts in 2012, said he was a solid punt protector, per Cannizzaro's report.

My belief is that Tebow is letting his ego, or his faith, or whatever you want to call it, get in the way of a longer football career. He's still a wildly inaccurate quarterback, his mechanics are still awful, but he refuses to let his dream of playing quarterback in the NFL die.

In some respects, that's an admirable stance. After all, plenty of people in various professions have defied the odds by refusing to listen to the advice of others and sticking to their own blueprints. 

But like Testaverde said, there's no harm in at least finding a way to get on an NFL roster, then working on your dream from there. Right now, Tebow isn't on a team at all, and that's not getting him anywhere.

Let me put it this way: Ryan refused to give up on Mark Sanchez for so many years, but he wouldn't even give Tebow 10 pass attempts in a single season. When a coach known for having blind faith in quarterbacks has little to no faith in you, it's time to move on.

Tebow is digging his own grave. It's time for him to open up to what the world can give him, instead of putting himself in a box, of which he cannot escape.