Tim Tebow has been the most talked about unsigned quarterback in the NFL throughout the first five weeks of the season, and seemingly every week a new rumor pops up regarding the once famed quarterback, who was cut by the New England Patriots during the preseason and has yet to sign with a new team out of free agency due to mere lack of interest.
One landing spot Tebow was rumored to go to in the NFL was with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but the team reportedly has no interest despite an 0-5 start to the season and only amounting to 51 points through its first five games. Jacksonville, which desperately could use some fans in the seats and a shakeup to its roster after a horrid start to the year, has refused to budge on signing Tebow despite a hamstring injury to Blaine Gabbert leaving Chad Henne as the team's starter.
This season, Henne is 53-for-95 (55.8%) through four appearances for 601 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions while Gabbert is 42-for-86 (48.8%) for 481 yards with one touchdown and an astounding seven interceptions.
In his last season as a starter for the Denver Broncos back in 2011 where his star began to rise, Tebow went 126-for-271 (46.5%) for 1,729 yards with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions while rushing for 660 yards on 122 attempts while reaching the end zone six times. Tebow was then traded to the New York Jets where he wasn't featured to often in the offensive scheme. Tebow went just 6-for-8 for 39 yards with no touchdowns and rushed just 32 times for 102 yards and no scores while playing behind Mark Sanchez for the Jets.
Tebow, a standout at Florida who won two National Championships and became the first sophomore Heisman winner, reached his apex in the NFL when he helped lead the Broncos to a late-season surge to the AFC West division title and led a game-winning drive in overtime of the Wild-Card playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in early 2012, but after the team was eliminated the following week it was all downhill from there.
Following a trade to the Jets and Tebow scarcely being used, New York released him and New England picked him up before subsequently releasing him in the preseason.
Jacksonville hasn't wavered in its stance that Tebow is not the answer to what ails them thus far this season, despite a rally of Jaguars fans in the Everbank Field parking lot attempting to encourage the brass to sign Tebow and a fan flying a banner over one of the team's recent games that said "Tebow, Why Not?'
TMZ reported that Jags owner Shahid Khan laughed when a reporter asked him about the possibility of signing Tebow and then said, "Ah, we need a lot of good players, OK."
So with Jacksonville out the window, it remains unclear whether or not Tebow will ever make a return to the National Football League, though he tweeted in the past that he will "never give up my relentless pursuit of being a professional quarterback in the NFL."
While the NFL remains a closed door for Tebow, there have been many rumors to him joining outside leagues such as the U.S. rugby team, a Canadian Football League team and a Russian Football League team, but Tebow has declined all of these endeavors.
USA Rugby's CEO and president Nigel Melville tweeted the following towards Tebow in September following the news that the quarterback was on the hunt for a job:
One door closes, an Olympic Rugby door opens for @TimTebow - we should talk about our global game! @USARugby
— Nigel Melville (@NigelMelville) August 31, 2013
No official offer was made and Tebow had little interest in joining the Rugby league anyway. Tebow also showed no interest in joining the CFL, even after the Montreal Alouettes, which own the rights to him, said that they would have been open to speaking with him in September.
CBS Sports wrote the following about it when the news first broke:
"The team would "welcome" the idea of having Tebow on its roster, according to coach/general manager Jim Popp. But Montreal has not reached out to his agent, Jimmy Sexton, since early this offseason, after the Jets released him and before Tebow signed with the Patriots (who subsequently released him last week). Popp said at that time a scout from his staff called Sexton's office, but did not speak with Sexton himself, to express to the agency that Montreal held Tebow's rights and should the quarterback want to explore that option, they would love to talk."
Popp and the Alouettes later said that they had no interest at all in signing Tebow and the option fizzled out for the once standout quarterback. Tebow was then rumored to have interest from an unspecified NFL team, but the talks broke off after Tebow wouldn't change positions as he said he wants to be a quarterback at the NFL level.
Tebow was then offered a chance to play for the Russian football team the Moscow Black Storm, but he also turned that down despite being offered $1 million to play in two games for the team. Team owner Mikhail Zaltsman seemed optimistic that his team could lure Tebow over, but then said that Tebow's agents put an end to the deal.
"Unfortunately agents of Tim Tebow turn down our proposal," Zaltsman in an email to the Russian sports news service R-Sport, according to UPI.com. "I hope that its Tebow's agents' fault that the contract wasn't signed and Tim couldn't do anything about it."
Tebow is just 26 years of age, but it seems as though he won't take outside endeavors no matter how much fame, how much recognition and how much money he is offered. Tebow remains driven to fulfill his dream of being a quarterback at the NFL level, but the question remains: Will any team ever offer him the opportunity to fulfill that dream?
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