We recently pointed out Peter King’s article in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, which features a close look at the ongoing effort to make Tim Tebow into an NFL quarterback.
Among other things, King’s article shows that Tebow has been slipping into his old throwing motion during some practice reps.
As Mike Klis of the Denver Post points out, this fact conflicts with coach Josh McDaniels’ insistence that Tebow has shown no problems with his mechanics.
We get the impression that, while the Broncos will continue to try to ensure that Tebow demonstrates proper mechanics at the NFL level, the team is willing to accept the fact that, from time to time, he’ll rely on the muscle memory resulting from thousands and thousands of throws made with his prior motion.
But that doesn’t mean the Broncos won’t try to change him — or that they’ll pretend that the effort to do so already has been completed.
in b4 Tebow apostles
I can’t wait to read the headlines in a year or two.
“After being fired, McDaniels admits ‘Tebow at 26 was a mistake’.”
Kid is a project QB. You just don’t spend first round picks on those kind of QB’s. No matter what ‘intangibles’ he may posess.
Don’t want to put anything about how Champ Bailey pointed out Tebow working 30 minutes after OTA’s were over huh? God forbid you put something positive about the Denver Broncos, or Tebow.
what is he doing fighting the car mechanics?
Before long Tim Tebow will cry out at a practice. “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani”
LOL, Tebow was the best QB at the last practice, and if you bother to read King’s whole article he says that Tebow will be the Bronco’s starter at some point this year. Even though Peter wrote the piece in South Africa about 2 weeks after watching the Broncos practice for a couple days, so it isn’t exactly hot off the press stuff based on serious inside information.
This is shocking news…
Florio….you are so awesome!!!!! I can’t imagine for the life of me why you haven’t won a Pulitzer?
If he is reverting back to his old throwing motion during a practice, it is 100% that he will revert back to it during an actual game.
I am so torn on the kid. I really want him to succeed. He is a great role model for young people. But, if I were a betting man, I’d have to bet on him being a total bust.
Tim Tebow is and always will be a college football player…….josh mcdaniels is a goomba…..he has a god complex…….the broncos suck now and will always suck as long as Mc is the coach……Tebow ain’t even a pimple on an average football players but……ha ha…..what a joke of a franchise……Elway left and they ain’t been nothin since…….ha ha…..not one post season win since Elway retired……ha ha…..from Elway to Tebow…..the Broncos are the NFLs commic relief!
“Kid is a project QB. You just don’t spend first round picks on those kind of QB’s. No matter what ‘intangibles’ he may posess.”
Alex Smith and Vince Young were taken much higher and are no different. I don’t understand what all the fuss is about.
I hope he succeeds if for no other reason than to shut all of you truly great QB experts up.
Didn’t you write this a couple days ago?
“The goal, of course, is for this new motion to become natural, so that when Tebow takes the snap he’s thinking only about making the play. “Can we get this to be consistent by August?” Josh McDaniels says. “I don’t know.”
He was drafted 2 months ago and you expect it to be changed by now? No one is hiding Florio so just relax!
Tebow’s problems were masked by a good offensive line, a system catered to his skills and having a great defense. Pop in a tape of his last two drives against Ole Miss in 2008 and have a good laugh. Louis Murphy was wide open downfield twice and both times he overthrew him. Also, watch the Senior Bowl. Watch as Sean Weatherspoon, Daryl Washington and Tyson Alualu embarass Tebow.
Tebow will prove to you all that he is an AWFUL MISTAKE
He’s a long-shot, no doubt. If any kid can make the transition though I think Tebow’s the kid.
Come week 3, Tebow will have changed positions to full-back. Count on it!
That’s why you don’t take projects in the 1st round. You take 1st year starters in the 1st round. Tebow could develop into a good NFL QB with a lot of work, but likely he’s 3 years away.
Jagman-
ARodgers was a 1st round selection and was a project quarterback.
The NFL is not the place to learn how to be a Quarterback. One could make the argument for just about any other position, but not QB.
Steve McNair almost always had the ball around his waist before he’d throw it. Throwing motion is over-hyped if the QB is accurate…unfortunately, Tebow isn’t known for his deadly accuracy.
# salmen76 says: June 15, 2010 12:29 PM
Tim Tebow is and always will be a college football player…….josh mcdaniels is a goomba…..he has a god complex…….the broncos suck now and will always suck as long as Mc is the coach……Tebow ain’t even a pimple on an average football players but……ha ha…..what a joke of a franchise……Elway left and they ain’t been nothin since…….ha ha…..not one post season win since Elway retired……ha ha…..from Elway to Tebow…..the Broncos are the NFLs commic relief!
Wrong. They actually beat the Pats in January, 2006 then lost to the Steelers in the AFC Championship. Great grammar too.
I like the advise Steve Young gave him. “Just keep throwing like you always have”
For the first six weeks last year, this defenses was INVINCIBLE. Zero second half points through six games! And that was without the help of so-far invisible Robert Ayers. Their defense didn’t perform nearly as well the final 10 games, but it was still one of the better units in the league.
-Just lost Mike Nolan
-Dawkins/Bailey are 1 year older
-No defensive players drafted in first 6 rounds
-You traded away a 26 year old superstar receiver for 2 draft picks that were only slightly more valuable than…
-…the pick used to draft a WR, who is most likely going to take 3 years to become a good player…if he becomes good at all. Could be Roddy White, could be Ashley Lelie.
I agree with Jagmankane, no matter how you slice it, Tebow is a PROJECT at QB, a more complicating project than even Vince Young is/was.
It’s a ridiculously luxurious pick to make for a team that looked like a playoff contender through week 6 then veered straight to hell with a 2-8 record.
What you knobs don’t understand is that even if Tebow didn’t alter his delivery one iota, he’d still be an excellant NFL QB. His college completion rate was 67%. Look around the league, the rate remains consistent for most QBs at the next level. Orton’s was 58% in college. It is 57.5 as a pro or something like that. There isn’t more than a % or two difference for most QBs from college to pro if they play any amount of time at both levels. On average, the difference between the time it takes Tebow to release a pass, versus Sam Bradford, is 1/20 of a second. There are so many other ways that Tebow makes up that negigible difference in passing efficiency it is irrelevant. Flat out Tim was the best quarterback, and maybe best player in the draft.
I Love the English used by some of these Raiders Fans… lol
salmen76 says:
June 15, 2010 12:29 PM
Tim Tebow is and always will be a college football player…….josh mcdaniels is a goomba…..he has a god complex…….the broncos suck now and will always suck as long as Mc is the coach……Tebow ain’t even a pimple on an average football players but……ha ha…..what a joke of a franchise……Elway left and they ain’t been nothin since…….ha ha…..not one post season win since Elway retired……ha ha…..from Elway to Tebow…..the Broncos are the NFLs commic relief!
“goomba” when you google it comes up as a fictional species from Nintendo’s series of Mario video games…. So we can conclude that this person spent most of his childhood playing video games that have nothing to do with football…
“Ain’t” Ain’t a word and I Ain’t gonna say it….
“but” I think what this guy is trying to say is Butt, but who knows…
P.S. Florio don’t pretend to be a Tebow Hater you know you have a man crush…
Report: The earth is still round, and the sky blue.
@Jagmankane- I couldn’t have said it better myself. McD will rue the day for drafting a mega-project at the most important position.
Again I write as I have after reading other articles about Tebow: Give the kid a chance!
With the exception of a very few, NFL qb’s far more times than not have a rocky start. Troy Aikman(1-15) his rookie season with the Pokes. John Elway didn’t exactly make eyes pop open in Denver during his rookies season either.
Look at all the crap former-Giant qb Phil Simms put up with before leading the G-Men anchored on the “D” by HOF’s Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson to a huge win over Denver in SB XXI. Before he got hurt in game 11 of the Giants Super Bowl XXV upset win over the Bills season, Simms had been under center leading the Giants to 10 straight wins in-a-row. I am old enough(56) to remember the boos Simms got early in his career and the injuries he sustained, and there were more than a few voices who wanted to attach the word “bust” to his name early on. No one totally appreciated Simms until he was released by Big Blue ending his career. Then the Gaints fans were wondering for years as to whether-or-not the team would find another Phil Simms.
Tebow may well end up a bust, but for crying out loud, you’ve got to give him a decent amount of time to learn what he needs to know.
Again I end this with what I startd: Give the kid a chance!
It’s just not a good idea to draft a quarterback high than change his throwing mechanics. It has never led to success (David Carr anyone?!!) If you can throw, you can throw. If you cant, well….
Brees, Brady, or Manning did not need this tutoring.
Florio,
Do you actually know what muscle memory is? Please try to know what you’re saying means before you say it.
Also, Peter King was pretty high on Tebow the whole entire article (which was massive unlike this fluff piece). Perhaps you should stop incorrectly paraphrasing other peoples work.
Oh, I forgot, that’s the foundation of this website.
I’m not a Bronco’s fan or a Tebow fan but for the sake of argument, Timmy played against the best high school teams in the nation and dominated them. He played the best college players and dominated. He is a football player through and through, so I have no reason to believe that he will not dominate at a professional level.
I can’t imagine it would be easy to change muscle memory and throwing mechanics of someone who’s thrown the ball a certain way for the last 15+ years.
On the other hand, it *is* possible to learn new form and re-train your muscle memory.
It won’t happen in a few weeks of OTA’s, though. I think we need to take the microscope off this guy and just move on. If he gets it, he’ll probably see the field. If not, PFT just wrote more articles on a 2nd/3rd string QB than any other before.
Jagmankane says:
June 15, 2010 12:19 PM
I can’t wait to read the headlines in a year or two.
“After being fired, McDaniels admits ‘Tebow at 26 was a mistake’.”
McDaniels doesn’t admit mistakes. He just compounds them.
If Tebow was black, many of his critics would be his biggest supporters…
Too bad Denver and Buffalo can’t work out a deal…
Orton for Lynch.
Then all you TeBlow lovers will get what you want and Buffalo will get a QB who can start.
I agree that it was a mistake to take Tebow at 26 but everyone knew it would take a year or two for him to be ready to start if he can become a decent NFL QB. Judging him now is foolish because it is going to take time for him to get comfortable with his new throwing motion.
“D_Hopkins says:
June 15, 2010 1:22 PM
He played the best college players and dominated.”
No he didn’t. He was far from dominant against Eric Berry, Dan Williams and the Tennessee defense. Monte Kiffin had a terrific gameplan and they made Tebow look average.
“@D_hopkins: I’m not a Bronco’s fan or a Tebow fan but for the sake of argument, Timmy played against the best high school teams in the nation and dominated them. He played the best college players and dominated. He is a football player through and through, so I have no reason to believe that he will not dominate at a professional level. ”
Signed,
Hundreds of NFL busts.
Go watch the Senior Bowl. Tebow was the worst QB there, actually playing against some of the best players in college ball. Without his little gimmick offense, he’s awful.
And LOL at the person touting college completion percentage. When 90% of your passes are laterals, it’s easy to complete passes.
swagger52 says:
June 15, 2010 12:48 PM
Jagman-
ARodgers was a 1st round selection and was a project quarterback.
————————————————–
Rodgers was being mentored by Brett Favre, not Orton and Quinn
D_Hopkins says:
June 15, 2010 1:22 PM
I’m not a Bronco’s fan or a Tebow fan but for the sake of argument, Timmy played against the best high school teams in the nation and dominated them. He played the best college players and dominated.
————————————————-
he got his ass kicked by Henne
First fullback taken in the first round I have seen in a while. You can’t even use him at TE because an NFL linebacker will eat him up.
I’ll ask anyone who talks about his great arm strength or accuracy to please take a look at an SEC game in the last 2 years. Not the cupcakes that Florida loves to schedule. Watch the down count closely because you might mistake a post pattern for a punt.
Tebow is a year away from starting because of his mechanics, but he has the tools that can’t be taught(work ethic, leadership etc.), so in my book he’s half way there. If JaMarcus had half the work ethic of Tebow, he’d be still playing! But I’ll say again, don’t write stories about his throwing motion not changing when it hasen’t been even 2 months since he has been drafted Florio! Next post by Florio……….I hate soccer, soccer sucks!
but what about his tremendous work ethic? and his awesome attitude and his cunning good looks? and what about every dude that has a man crush on him?? how could someone dare publish a slightly negative story about this hasbeen?
Tebow ran the ball himself about as often as he passed it in high school and college. That is why he carries it the way he does when dropping back. It gives him the most flexibility. But it isn’t a negative thing necessarily. Keeping the defense guessing from the Qb position can be a great asset. The defensive players can’t fully commit to either option.
All McDaniels is doing is preparing him to operate as a traditional pocket passing Qb when the circumstances dictate. I think that is happening. Then the strings are loosened and he gets to go back to improvising as he sees fit. Tebow’s future (or McDaniels) does not in any way depend on his success in changing his passing mechanics. It is just a slight enhancement of his overall skills.
What’s happening here folks is we’re seeing the rise of the modern day Bernie Kosar (mechanics-wise, not in god-love or gambling habits) and we’re going to see a simultaneous rise to prominence by the Browns who will beat the Broncos in an AFC Championship game in a few years in which Knowshown Moreno fumbles at the goal line…. and the Browns will proceed to lose 4 straight SB’s.
What’s really funny here is that Klis is clearly miffed that a non-local media guy (King) got way more access to the Broncos than Klis has ever sniffed in his life.
The McD bros work with ALL the QB’s on their mechanics. The extra work put in by Tebow isn’t a mandate by the coaching staff, but rather Tebow being Tebow. I guess most of you forgot that about him and all of a sudden believe what a media guy says about a media guy who says something about what a media guy wrote. Too funny.
I think the world of armchair quarterbacks and coaches are in for a big surprise… probably (in the words of Klis) “sooner rather than later”.
Fullback??? LMAO. You guys know nothing.
# marinofreakout says: June 15, 2010 2:03 PM
but what about his tremendous work ethic? and his awesome attitude and his cunning good looks? and what about every dude that has a man crush on him?? how could someone dare publish a slightly negative story about this hasbeen?
____________________________________
Presently, he is a “never been”, calling him a hasbeen gives him credit for something he hasnt earned yet…just saying. Personally, I dont think he will be that great in the NFL, but nothing surprises me anymore. As someone said, he is the complete opposite of JaWalrus Russell….so he is at least on the right track
@CanadianVikingsFan: I’ll bet you any amount of money he will not be converted to fullback by week three.
@swagger52: Actually Rodgers was coming out of an under-center, pro-style offense in college. He was not a project, it just seemed like he was because Favre took forever to move on. Rodgers could have started his first year if given the chance. He would have taken a rookie beating like most QBs do in their first year, but he certainly wasn’t a project. Alex Smith was the project in that QB class.
I’m absolutely floored by this. I mean, who could have seen this coming?
I could care less whether he makes it or not but I am completely sick of those who say they are rooting for him because he is such a great human being and a wonderful role model.
Are you saying that Orton and Quinn are not good human beings? Or maybe it’s because their personal lives haven’t been exploited for all to place this saint on a pedestal. I for one think Tim is one of the more annoying people I have have ever seen in my life.
He is a complete overacheiver who probably thinks he’s better than everyone else because he screams a lot and tries to say all of the perfect little cliches in every interview.
I promise you he pouted a LOT in little league and cried after every loss.
May the Lord be with you. Please, bow your heads and thank the lord for today.
He’s a better chance leading team prayer, then winning in the NFL.
20 GM’s said they wouldn’t draft Tebow until the late rounds, of which 10 of them said they wouldn’t draft him at all. See the picture here?
I’m not a Raiders fan boyz……..I’m a World Championship Saints fan…….just because i agree the Broncos and Tim Tebow suck doesn’t make me a Raiders fan……by the way, what happened to the Raiders?…..oh yea, they suck too……ha ha…..
robert ethen
colt mccoy had a 70.2% completion percentage are you saying that he will hit that mark in the nfl? give or take a couple of points? hahaha that is rich!
that slight bit of time you are talking about is long enough for the db to read him
Alfie says:
And LOL at the person touting college completion percentage. When 90% of your passes are laterals, it’s easy to complete passes.
———-
A lateral’s not a pass, dumbass.
swagger52 says:
June 15, 2010 12:48 PM
Jagman-
ARodgers was a 1st round selection and was a project quarterback.
=======================
The Packers didn’t have nearly as many holes to fill as the Broncos. In fact, Rodgers was only a project because he was drafted by a team with an established starter. If you remember the draft that year, Rodgers was actually rated much higher than where he went, and if there had been more teams in the Top 10 with QB needs, he might have been drafted much higher.
That is the complete opposite of Tebow, who was drafted much higher than projected. Other than that, your analogy is perfect.
D_Hopkins says:
June 15, 2010 1:22 PM
I’m not a Bronco’s fan or a Tebow fan but for the sake of argument, Timmy played against the best high school teams in the nation and dominated them. He played the best college players and dominated. He is a football player through and through, so I have no reason to believe that he will not dominate at a professional level.
==========================
Just about player in major college football dominated competition in high school, and less than 5% ever even make a pro roster.
He also played WITH the best players in college. Top levels players at every position, all over the field. And he didn’t always dominate teams with the talent to match Florida, in case you didn’t watch the Alabama or Tennessee games.
He also played in an offense that is about 200 times simpler to learn than he will in the pros. He took 100 percent of his snaps in the shotgun and had never run a competitive football play from under center until the Senior Bowl, where he was a train wreck.
These are a couple of reasons he might not dominate at a professional level, not even the complete list.
poonhok says:
June 15, 2010 1:28 PM
If Tebow was black, many of his critics would be his biggest supporters…
===============
If Tebow were black, he would have been drafted in the 7th round and converted to TE.
Here we go again, all the so-called experts claiming (before Tebow has even played a down in the NFL) that he was drafted too high, that he “sucks,” and pointing out those that said they wouldn’t draft Tebow. The fact is that several SB winning coaches, including one that I respect more than any other, Tony Dungy, said that Tebow was a first round pick. No one, I repeat no one, can say with certainty that Tebow will be either (1) a great qb in the NFL, or (2) that he will “suck” as an NFL qb. To those bloggers, I leave you with this saying: “better to be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
Who cares it the Broncos! I expect nothing good to happen from this team as long as this coaching staff is in place.
“giffchamp says:
June 15, 2010 3:20 PM
A lateral’s not a pass, dumbass.”
I assume Alfie meant a shovel pass. Tebowners were touting his Sugar Bowl stats when he was actually throwing the ball about 5 yards and guys like Aaron Hernandez were running untouched for 30 or 40 yards.
In a quarterback’s mechanics competition Jeff George and Kerry Collins would dominate.
Where would perennial winner Phillip Rivers place, or Romo, or Bernie Kosar? Hell, even Peyton Manning has “Happy Feet”!
Tebow struggling? How could God let this happen?
jb10…..I said “if the player plays any amount of time at the next level”. McCoy may be too short and too small to do that. He doesn’t have a lot of arm strength either. But the chances of Tebow playing are much better. Once he does, history indicates that his accuracy will be similar to what it was in college.
Fans seem to want to project the player to full time finished NFL product based on what he is as a 22 year old coming out of one of the various hokey college systems. There are a lot of partial and temporary versions of the finished product. First the player has to get onto the field. Tebow’s other assets will make that happen. Secondly he has to be able to stay there as long as required. Tebow’s tremendous natural strength and endurance will help there.
Colt McCoy or Sam Bradford may always be more accurate passers than Tebow, but I don’t think they will get the same opportunity to display that. Neither of them look very durable to me, and neither offers anything outside of their pure passing skills. Bradford will be on the field pretty quickly considering his contract, but I don’t know how long he will stay there. McCoy is going to have to get lucky just to get on the field, and again I don’t know how long he would last.
mechanics, give me a brake. try looking at mechanics of bret the great farve. i don’t recall seeing a mechanics column along side won/lose column. i don’t know and no one else does either, how tebow will be work out, but we at least will see in a season or two, and of course mcdaniels may not be a broncos coach when you see what kind of quarterback and his w/l record tebow will have down the road.
“Illegal completion, poor mechanics by the QB, repeat of down!”
I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT TEBOW’S THROWING MECHANICS. THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS IS WINNING. IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW.
JUST WIN BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s so funny how many “experts” here are jumping all over Tebow. My God, you CAN’T change yourself overnight and you have to expect that the guy is going to take time to change what he’s been doing for more than a decade. Also, let’s not forget how people criticized Philip Rivers for his motion and yet it still looks more like his motion at North Carolina than the way that the so-called perfect QB is supposed to throw and he was on the bench for two years working on his mechanics.
The guy was still learning how to throw a few days before the NFL draft
1st round pick? Don’t make me laugh
D_Hopkins says:
June 15, 2010 1:22 PM
I’m not a Bronco’s fan or a Tebow fan but for the sake of argument, Timmy played against the best high school teams in the nation and dominated them. He played the best college players and dominated. He is a football player through and through, so I have no reason to believe that he will not dominate at a professional level. **************************
******************
This guy has it right… I hate the br nc s (no o in denver baby) but love Tebow. The guy is a top notch individual that won the heisman at what — A SOPHMORE…. national championships etc etc… his numbers rock and not just for one year…. for his career…. yes we are talking about high school and college but that is all he has had a chance to dominate…. read my lips- there is no way a guy like Tebow becomes a bust…. it is not in his DNA… he isnt about the money, he isnt about the fame (see any of his interviews)… it is about contributing to his team to get the win…. and he will do whatever it takes to get the win… I am bummed he is in our division as i feel he will become a fantastic qb….
I just dont understand why the nfl is so hell bent on changing a qb’s everything…. tell the kid “dont get stripped, and be accurate” and let him play…. hell you have kyle orton…… Tebow in his sleep is more talented than him— let him study film film film and the playbook and give him the reigns….. and ALL of you know that Tebow will not flake on the work, work harder than others and drive to be successful…… Those that call him a bust, be sure to step up and remind everyone of your prediction in 2-3 years…. and if he is a bust I would be glad to say I was wrong…. but deep down inside you know the kid will not quit till he is the best…. I just wish it was in another division
The San Clemente Kid
http://www.RaidersFanConvention.com