Tim Tebow Has a Lot in Common with Steve Young

Patience Broncos fans, patience.

Everybody is trying to figure out if Tim Tebow is a draft bust or not.  Is he better than Kyle Orton?  Is he the quarterback of the future?  Is he even an NFL quarterback at all?  That is a lot of questions for a guy who is only entering his second season in the NFL.

So again, be patient Broncos fans. 

According to everything you read, Tim Tebow is a hard worker.  He is a good person.  One day, he might be a really good quarterback.  If he isn't ready this year, that doesn't mean it's the end of the world.  There have been a lot of quarterbacks in NFL history who didn't start right away.  We don't have to label Tebow the "savior" or a "bust" today, do we?

Why don't we just let him keep working hard?  Why don't we give him time to improve? 

If Tebow is the hard worker he is reported to be, then I believe he will be a good quarterback in the NFL one day.  Just take a look at a guy like Kurt Warner, who was bagging groceries in Iowa before getting signed by the Rams.  If not for a fluke injury to Trent Green, who knows if his career would have ever got off the ground?  Even Tom Brady sat on the bench his first season behind the immortal Drew Bledsoe.  That turned out okay for New England in the long run. 

Matt Hasselbeck sat on the bench for three years behind Brett Favre in Green Bay.  It wasn't until he was traded to Seattle that he finally got his chance to play.  When given the opportunity, he turned out to be a good NFL quarterback, taking the Seahawks to the playoffs six times, including a trip to the Super Bowl in 2005. 

None of those guys were first-round picks.  None of those guys were under the scrutiny Tebow is under.

Of course there are countless examples of quarterbacks that were late bloomers.  The one that I think applies to Tim Tebow better than any of the rest is Steve Young.  Now wait a minute, don't throw anything at your computer screen!  I hear you saying it, "Steve Young?  As in Hall of Famer Steve Young?"  Sports fans, this comparison is not as crazy as you think.

Consider this: during his senior season at BYU, Young completed 71.3% of his passes.  Tebow completed 70.1% of his passes during his senior year at Florida. Young was a "running quarterback" in college, to the point they actually considered switching him to a skill position at BYU.  Sound familiar?  Tebow was a record-setting runner at Florida, and there was talk of him being better suited as an H-back or tight end in the NFL.

This comparison goes even deeper though.  During Young's first two seasons in the NFL, Tampa Bay went 2-14 each season.  With Young as the starting quarterback, the team had a 3-16 record.  Young threw only 11 touchdowns, while throwing 21 interceptions.  That is not exactly lighting the world on fire, is it?

Young ended up getting traded to San Francisco, where he sat on the bench behind some guy named Montana.  He had time to improve.  He learned the system.  Tebow is not sitting behind a Hall of Fame quarterback, but hey, Kyle Orton is a good player.  It gives Tebow the time to learn and improve.

The point is, it is too soon to write Tebow off.  When you look at Tebow's athletic ability, his arm strength, his intangibles and his work ethic, I just think he is going to be a good quarterback.  Sure, he needs to improve, but so did Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and a whole lot of other quarterbacks in the NFL who weren't great from day one in the league.

Don't take it from me, take it from QB guru Mike Holmgren, who has coached a ton of good quarterbacks, including Joe Montana, Steve Young, Brett Favre and Hasslebeck.  He said:

"I've always felt if you can keep a quarterback in the same system for two years with the same coach and he plays, at the beginning of Year 3, with two full seasons of screwing up and making mistakes, you absolutely know one way or the other." 

Tebow hasn't had that yet.  He is in his second year, under his second coach, and he didn't even get a "normal offseason" to work with his newest coach.  So it's just too early to make any kind of fair assessment of Tebow at this time.

Patience Broncos fans, patience.  Who knows, maybe you have the next Steve Young?  Maybe not?  If he becomes even a poor man's Steve Young, I would take him over a lot of other guys starting in the NFL right now.