Why Denver Broncos QB Tim Tebow Is Not a Viable MVP Candidate

Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow might be the most talked-about player in the league, and he has certainly managed to assist his team in winning games since being awarded the starting job during the Week 6 bye, but it's completely far-fetched to even assume that he's in the running to be the NFL's Most Valuable Player of the 2011 season.

It would take playoff wins, perhaps even a Super Bowl victory, before Tebow could be considered a viable candidate for the award, especially considering how well a number of other quarterbacks are playing the position this year.

One argument for Tebow's consideration is that he's engineered quite the turnaround for the Broncos since taking over as the starting quarterback, both literally (winning close games in their waning minutes) and figuratively (emerging as a leader who his teammates respect). However, he's neither the first nor the last player who has replaced a faltering teammate and made his team better. That's the nature of the game; ideally, every struggling team would love to plug in one new guy and start pulling wins, and sometimes that does happen.

Though it's anomalous in the sense that no one aside from his die-hard supporters thought Tebow would be an effective starter, and defying expectations surely is a compelling storyline, it doesn't translate into Tebow being the single-most valuable football player in the entire league.

Look at the Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers. He's worthy of an MVP nod without much discussion, as he's completed 70.6 percent of his passes for 3,844 yards, 37 touchdowns in the air and two on the ground and just five interceptions, while his team has gone undefeated through 13 weeks.

In comparison, Tebow has a completion percentage of 47.5, has thrown 10 touchdowns to one interception and has rushed 82 times for 468 yards and three scores. Though Tebow's quarterback style is very different from Rodgers', it still illustrates just how far apart the two are when it comes to overall value to the league as a whole.

Yes, Tebow's passing numbers are improving—or, at least, they improved in Week 13—as he completed 66.7 of his passes in the team's win over the Minnesota Vikings, for 202 yards and two touchdowns while he rushed for a mere 13 yards.

However, he only attempted 15 passes to begin with and had just five completions for 30 yards in the first half. An MVP should remain consistently good from the beginning to the end of every game he plays; Tebow stepping up to snag a win in the final minutes over and over again is impressive to be sure, but it does not speak to his ability to play his position at a high level for 60 straight minutes.

You may love what Tebow has accomplished thus far, and it's clear that he's been valuable to the Broncos (in concert with Willis McGahee's ability to kill clock by running effectively and the venerable efforts of their ever-strengthening defense). But Tebow has not attained the kinds of achievements needed for a quarterback to be named league MVP.

It doesn't discount the things Tebow has accomplished, certainly, and it doesn't mean that he's a terrible player if he doesn't get MVP consideration—maybe five men will be part of that conversation and only one will win it, after all, and there are nearly 1,700 active players in the league to begin with.

Tebow's a big name who generates conversation and spurs on the sale of jerseys and tickets. But value isn't relative when one speaks of who has the most of it, and this year, it's just not Tebow.