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If Tim Tebow Makes Eagles Roster, His Role Should Be Small

By Austin Vitelli

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Tebowmania hasn’t exactly been running rampant so far in Philadelphia, but there are still rumblings that he has a real chance of making this roster. I believe those people are right.

However, what will the Philadelphia Eagles do with him if he makes it? In my opinion, the best part of Tim Tebow making the roster is it would mean that Matt Barkley is released. Barkley has been downright awful in most situations since the Eagles drafted him. It’s time to move on, even if that means the clock says Tebow Time.

The excitement and shocking gasps from fans of other teams who don’t understand the Eagles’ quarterback situation should end there though. Even if Tebow makes the team, it would be a mistake to go out of their way to use him on the field. At the end of the day, Tebow would be the team’s third string quarterback and nothing more. Why make an effort to get your third-best quarterback some playing time when, obviously, you have two other better quarterbacks?

There were rumors that maybe Tebow would be used at a position other than quarterback. After all, back in 2013, he “learned” how to play tight end as well. But he ultimately didn’t make the team to play tight end, nor would it have been beneficial to play him there. Through and through, this guy’s a quarterback. Not a particularly good one, but still a quarterback.

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When he was on the Jets, they even talked about him possibly being used as a kick returner or “personal punt protector” in order to, apparently, find ways to use his “unique skill set.” Again, that didn’t really work out.

A few years ago, there was also a craze for using non-quarterbacks or specialty players in the wildcat formation as a set of trick plays. Oftentimes, this only resulted in the forced use of players who shouldn’t even be playing quarterback, and ultimately, a loss of yards or disastrous-looking offense. That craze eventually died out and now, the formation is sparsely used, if at all, in the NFL.

Is the common thread apparent yet? Attempting to use specialty or x-factor players in set plays or packages of plays nearly never works out. The defense may not know exactly what’s going on, but if Tebow were to randomly line up at quarterback for a play in a game for the Eagles, do you think it would be so he could drop back and throw a bomb down the field? No, of course not. It would probably be to attempt some sort of fancy play or option that would likely result in a couple yards at best. Once in a while, this may work, but ultimately, it’s a waste of time.

And that’s just speaking for the situations in which he would come in at quarterback. Putting him at any other position, whether that be somewhere else on offense or on special teams, would also be a waste of time. The Eagles have one of the strongest special teams groups in the league, so why put a quarterback in there with them? Unless Tebow magically turned into a different player who actually had these necessary skills to play other positions, there is no point to it.

When has another team intentionally tried to put a quarterback on the field who they know is worse than other healthy quarterbacks on the team? Other than with Tebow, it rarely happens, and works even less of the time. Yes, I truly think Tebow will eventually make the team as the Eagles’ third string quarterback. But the best case scenario for this team is that he remains the team’s third quarterback and never appears in a regular season game. Because at the end of the day, he’s a poor quarterback.

Next: Philadelphia Eagles: Special Teams Will Be Key Again in 2015

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