NFL

Tim Tebow Has An Open Invitation To The Arena League If He Wants It

Tim Tebow can’t seem to grab a starting job in the NFL, but if he ever gets desperate, the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League has a spot ready and waiting for him.

Predators owner Brett Bouchy is keeping a seat warm for Tebow just in case. In an interview with Orlando Sentinel, Bouchy talked up the opportunity to play in the Arena League, saying “I think he would definitely improve as a quarterback in our league. Kurt Warner told me once that when he got back to the NFL after playing in the Arena League, the NFL game was like slow motion. Everything in the Arena League is just so much faster and quicker and predicated on accuracy. Whenever Tim is willing, we have a contract waiting for him to sign.”

At this point, this might be Tebow’s best option. In addition to him, the Jets now have four other quarterbacks on the roster (Mark Sanchez, Greg McElroy, David Garrard, Matt Simms) and Tebow is likely third on the depth chart at best if he even makes to to camp without being released. With no other teams interested in trading for the quarterback, and the Orlando Predators just miles from Gainesville where Tebow is a hero after playing for the Florida Gators, Tebow would have the opportunity to not only earn playing time but also feel appreciated by both a team and its fans.

Warner isn’t the only former NFL quarterback that found an alternate route to NFL success. Like Tebow, Doug Flutie was another quarterback that didn’t fit the NFL prototype. But after years of success in the USFL and CFL, Flutie eventually made his way back to the NFL in the late ’90s with the Buffalo Bills where he, like Tebow, experienced success before being replaced with the “better on paper/worse in practice” Brad Johnson despite compiling a better record as a starter. Hmm, sounds a lot like the Tebow-Mark Sanchez dynamic…

Although the Arena League sounds like a step back from the NFL, if it gives Tebow the opportunity to play, why not go for it? Playing in the Arena League is better than warming the bench in the NFL, right? Maybe?

[ESPN New York]

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