Tag: Trevor Lawrence

Tim Tebow’s Fantasy Camp of a Life Continues as Jaguars Sign Him as a Tight End

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ESPN – The Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to sign Tebow, 33, to a one-year contract later this week or next week to play tight end, a position he never played in high school, college or his previous three-year NFL career, a source confirmed to ESPN. A deal has not been agreed upon at this time. Once he signs, he will be reunited with Jaguars coach Urban Meyer, who coached Tebow at Florida and won a pair of national championships with the Gators.

Tim Tebow is approaching Cosmo Kramer levels of winning at life with this latest endeavor. Tebow has lived a life of unimaginable success in all facets of life, the ultimate jack of all trades master of none.

He was a five star QB recruit coming out of high school, won two national championships and a Heisman trophy at Florida, was a 1st round draft pick in the NFL, won a playoff game, moved on to broadcasting where he became a consistent face on ESPN covering college football, then tried his hand at professional baseball and made it to Triple-A, then married a legitimate Miss Universe, and now he will join the Jaguars 5+ years after the last time he strapped on a helmet, oh and he’ll be doing it as a tight end.

Truly a fantasy camp of a life.

Despite all that I love Tim Tebow, but I can understand anyone who might gag at the Captain America resume and truly absurd life this guy has lived. With that being said Tebow switching to tight end is something he should have done nearly a decade ago when the Patriots cut him after the pre-season in 2013. I admire a guy sticking to his guns and saying fuck that I’m a quarterback, but at some point we all have to realize our strengths and acknowledge our weaknesses and play the hand we’re dealt. Tebow looks to be in pretty good shape, but pretty good shape is not exactly NFL tight end shape and he’ll be 34 before the season starts, which is ancient in the NFL. So we might see some flashes but ultimately wonder bitterly what could have been if Tebow had been less stubborn back in the day. Maybe he could have been a reliable weapon for Tom Brady and the Patriots behind Gronk in two tight end sets. Who knows?

Either way it’s a smart move by the Jaguars though because they aren’t signing Tebow to be a backup tight end (they have 5 TE’s on the roster already), no they’re signing him to be a player-coach and to help install Urban Meyer’s team culture for his former University of Florida coach. Meyer is taking a huge gamble (mitigated mightily by having a once in a generation QB prospect in Trevor Lawrence) by jumping from the comfy confines of his college football success to the NFL. Just ask Nick Saban, arguably the greatest college coach of all time, how the NFL worked out for him. So Meyer is looking around for any advantage he can find and familiarity is one of the biggest advantages there is. If his former protege in Tebow can act as another coach on the field and help get other players to buy into Meyer’s system, then it’s absolutely worth the roster spot.

Plus as a guy who has dealt with an absolutely absurd level of attention and scrutiny in his career (hell, people went to Double-A baseball games just to watch him strike out), Tebow can help take some of the spotlight off of and help mentor Trevor Lawrence. Not to mention Tebow is originally from Jacksonville where he is a living legend so with that and Meyer in charge, it’s the perfect situation for him. If Tebow is effective in his role it would not surprise me at all to see him transition into a full-time coaching role as early as next season since this is only a one year deal.

But as a guy who purchased a Tim Tebow No. 5 Patriots t-shirt at the Allston Star Market in 2013, I’m just excited to see my guy back in the league.

The Patriots Have No Shot at Deshaun Watson. I’d Still Trade Everything But the Kitchen Sink For Him

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In what has been the absolutely worst kept secret, Deshaun Watson and the Texans appear to be done as the Pro Bowl QB has officially requested a trade. I mean what did the Texans expect? They continuously bungled personnel and front office decisions and then tell their best player they’ll include him in decisions such as the hiring of the next GM. And then they hire Nick Caserio, who despite the past interest between both sides is someone who wasn’t actually on the list of the candidates their highly publicized search committee put together. Even worse, the move came at the behest of Petyr Baelish AKA Jack Easterby himself. I wrote about how bad things had gotten with Easterby in the fold last month and then Sports Illustrated wrote their second hit piece in just over a month absolutely demolishing the guy. Then the team tells Watson they’ll include him in the process of hiring the next head coach. And they completely ignore Watson’s request to interview Chiefs innovative Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy, only interviewing him after it came out how pissed the QB was. A terrible look. So last night the Texans hire 65-year-old David Culley who’s never been an Offensive Coordinator in the NFL. Then this morning Schefty was promptly announcing Watson’s trade request to make it all official.

Deshaun Watson at this point:

So Watson is going to get traded it’s just a matter of where and how much will it cost. Trading for a 3x Pro Bowl QB who is coming off an MVP caliber season and is still just 25-years-old is going to get EXPENSIVE.

But would you rather the Patriots try and find their next QB in the draft? With the departure of Caserio, who was Belichick’s right hand man in football ops and scouting for the last several years, I am even less confident in the Patriots finding elite talent. Now in the next breath it must be addressed that Caserio did in fact go to run the show in Houston where he is seemingly going to have to trade the best QB in franchise history as his first move. So does that familiarity between the two sides work in their favor or does it immediately kneecap the Patriots’ chances because Caserio doesn’t want to look like he’s doing his old boss a favor?

Another aspect to consider is Watson has a full no-trade clause, which is pretty rare in the NFL, so it will require not only making the trade but convincing the player too. This ain’t three years ago. New England isn’t exactly an enticing place for a player to join these days. With no tight ends to speak of and a receiver core that ranges from undrafted overachiever to first round bust, why would Deshaun want to come here? It’s basically the same situation he’s currently in.

Except the coach and the owner.

That’s their only shot. After years in the clown show that is Houston, he could come in and play for the best coach in the history of the game. Maybe, as was mentioned in that same SI article, Watson really, genuinely longs for a winning culture like he had back in Clemson. Well if that’s true, there is no better place than New England. Just a couple of years removed from their last Super Bowl win and actively looking for the next young guy to take the mantle of the most successful team in NFL history, with a Hall of Fame coach, and a well respected and beloved owner. That could be enticing to Deshaun Watson.

Now of course this all assumes the Jets, the Dolphins, or even the Jaguars don’t value Watson as much as I do and bow out of throwing a bunch of first rounders at Houston. Because the offers those teams can make would blow the Pats out of the water. Granted the Patriots are sitting at No. 15 and are unlikely to have any (according to draft “experts”) elite franchise QBs fall to them so I’m more than willing to trade that pick. But if you’re the Patriots you just got punched in the head with the reminder that if you don’t have an elite QB you are cooked right out of the gate. After 20 years of consistent play from a first ballot Hall of Famer under center it’s easy to forget that not every team has been so fortunate. So if you’re Belichick you should be calling the Texans right now telling them pick what you want and send over the paper work. Whether that’s 3 or even 4 first rounders I’m doing that 100% of the time. A franchise QB is just that valuable and yes the Pats need to fill some holes around the player, but thats something you worry about after bringing him in. With a ton of cap space to work with they could find a Tight End and a Receiver to fill things out alongside Watson pretty quick.

Realistically there’s not really any chance of landing Deshaun Watson so I’m just kind of daydreaming right now, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’d trade everything but the kitchen sink for him. Hell, throw that in there too.

Patriots Jets Monday Night Football Key Matchups

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Patriots (2-5) vs Jets (0-8)
MetLife Stadium
Kickoff: 8:15 pm

I spent more time than I care to admit this morning looking for the old Keyshawn Johnson “Key Matchups” SportsCenter commercial, but it’s nowhere to be found. For a network that has made feature film length highlight shows of nothing but SportsCenter commercials to have one of the best examples completely scrubbed from the internet is odd, but I digress.

Patriots Inactives (Stephon Gilmore, N’Keal Harry, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Lawrence Guy, JJ Taylor) via PatsPulpit

The Patriots also have more than a dozen players listed as Questionable heading into Monday night including Ryan Izzo, who if you’ve been paying attention is the only active tight end on the roster that traveled with the team. So Cam Newton may have to just forget the tight end position is even an actual eligible receiver at this point. Not to mention, Julian Edelman is still on IR with a knee injury so it’ll be another night of throwing to Jakobi Meyers, Damiere Byrd, and the stable of running backs.

Jets Inactives (Blake Cashman, Trevon Wesco) via SportsIllustrated

Sam Darnold is also doubtful to play with Joe Flacco most likely to get the start. I don’t know how the typical Jets fan feels about Darnold, but I like the player and I’d take him tomorrow if the Jets decide to draft a QB and move on. I get the sense that he’s yet another player that has been poisoned by the touch of offensive guru Adam Gase (see Tannehill, Drake, Stills etc.). Calling Gase an offensive guru at this point is, well, offensive.

Joe Flacco is forever living off that 6 week stretch when he got HOT and lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl in 2012. He was rewarded handsomely for that run with a 6-year $120 million extension, making him the highest paid player in the NFL at the time. All this for a player who ProFootballReference.com says has had a comparable career to that of Jay Cutler, Andy Dalton, and Matt Hasselbeck. And that seems pretty accurate. Flacco has/had the physical tools to be elite at times, but was often a middle of the road QB and at times a complete bum. With that being said he’s been OK this year despite an 0-2 record, throwing for 1 TD and 1 INT albeit with a garish completion percentage of 51.9% So the Jets best hopes of finally stomping out the Patriots probaly went out the window once Darnold was ruled out, but the Pats are so bad this year you can’t rule it out.

Cam Newton/Jarrett Stidham/Brian Hoyer have not been much better though aside from the Seattle game, which seems like it was years ago at this point. I’m curious to see if the Pats double down on keeping the ball in Cam’s hands as much as possible with designed runs or if they take a step back after last week’s game ending fumble. This is a roster devoid of offensive talent outside of the running back position though so there aren’t a ton of other options for Josh McDaniels and the Patriots.

Jamison Crowder is expected to play after missing yet another game last week. When Crowder does play he has been a high end WR2, but he’s already missed four games this season so he’s been impossible for fantasy owners (like me) to rely on. Despite missing four games, Crowder still leads the Jets in targets, receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a big game from him, especially if the Pats go up early.

Spread Patriots (-9.5) vs Jets (+9.5)

Despite being 2-5, the Pats are still nearly double digits favorites over the Jets (they’re even getting 10 points in some books). But even against the 0-8 Jets, I’m not comfortable laying 10 points with this increasingly ineffectual Patriots team. This is not the Patriots offense of my twenties so I’m not expecting a blowout tonight.

Prediction: Pats 17 Jets 10

The Jets have only scored more than 14 points twice this season so that doesn’t bode well for Gang Green, even with Stephon Gilmore out tonight. On the other side, Cam Newton has only thrown for 2 touchdowns with 7 picks in 6 games against varying strengths of defense. So I think the Patriots run day and night, control the clock, pop a couple TDs and get the hell out of there with an ugly W as the Jets continue their lonely march towards drafting Trevor Lawrence next year.