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Tim Tebow Might Want The Jets To Trade Him If He Stays A Backup. Why Is Anyone Surprised?

Tim Tebow is a competitive guy. Did you know this? How could you not? That speech he gave after the loss at Florida? The constant yelling and fist pumping? His competitiveness, how hard he always plays regardless of whether or not he’s playing well, is a big part of what defines him. Tebow’s competitiveness makes him (realistically or not) want to be the best. When you’re a backup, it’s hard to be the best.

And Mark Sanchez’s Week 1 performance firmly established Tebow’s role as the Jets’ backup quarterback. Gone were the Jets’ preseason offensive struggles that made us speculate that Tebow might get a starting shot (a possibility I was skeptical of initially) sooner rather than later. For the foreseeable future, he’s not going to play that much. And it doesn’t matter how perfect a teammate you are: if you’re accustomed to being the star – or at least a starter – you don’t like being on the bench.

All this is to say: I didn’t see anything to get bent out of shape about in this story from the New York Daily News this morning. If Tebow sees the Jets as a dead end, he’ll want out. Well… of course he will. Acting outwardly humble and crediting others for his success doesn’t mean the guy has no ego. So why should we be surprised at passages from the linked Daily News piece like:

Tim Tebow is fired up as he runs over to the Broncos sidelines between plays, a wild-eyed look on his menacing face. He’s consumed by the moment as his athletic arrogance and competitiveness take over from the respectful personality he displays off the field.

“There is only one person who carries the ball right here!” Tebow screams at the Broncos coaches.

He doesn’t mean Knowshon Moreno.

Hell, the author of the piece, Gary Myers, pretty much tells us we shouldn’t be surprised:

Tebow is a football player. Football players want to play.

Sounds simple enough to me. And yet: no one can stop talking about it. This is surprising to people? This is something people even care about that much after Tebow barely played against the Bills? Maybe some of it’s based on a misunderstanding of Myers’ piece (any hypothetical trade request would only happen after the season), and some of the talk is based on people not being sure why anyone would care about this news to begin with (which I’m doing myself here, with this post), but they’re talking nonetheless.

So maybe the real takeaway here isn’t that Tim Tebow might request a trade, but that no matter wat happens, we will never stop hearing about Tim Tebow. The Broncos are struggling with Kyle Orton at QB? We ask, “When will Tebow get his chance?” Tebow leads the Broncos to dramatic, last-minute wins despite playing terribly most of the game? No one talks about anything but Tebow, ever. The Broncos sign Peyton Manning? We wonder what comes next for Tebow. Tebow goes to the Jets? We go back to talking about Tebow nonstop.

And now, when Tebow might request a trade eventually? We’re all still talking about Tebow. Is it any wonder we hear about him all the time? He gets people talking. We can all act like we’re annoyed by the constant Tebow-chatter, but when a story about something Tebow might – might – possibly do a few months from now gains as much traction as Myers’ has, it’s hard to argue we’re not bringing it all on ourselves.

Getty photo, by Rich Schultz

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