Let’s say you’re Tim Tebow. It’s May 1, 2013. You’ve been cut by your most recent team (my beloved New York Jets), and it seems that the demand for your services is not very high. Ever since you won the last game you started, an AFC Playoff game as QB of the Denver Broncos two seasons ago, your reputation has been tarnished because you’ve been told you can’t throw very well (side note: this is true, he can’t throw very well. I saw it with my own eyes at Jets camp last summer). People are speculating that you will be playing in the second-tier CFL (Canadian Football League) next year. Except that the team who owns your rights, the Montreal Alouettes, has already said they would love to have you come in and be their QB…their backup QB. You still make an insane amount of headlines in the news, but not for the reasons you want. What do you do? What’s next for Tim Tebow?
Well, his actual answer would be very different than what I will say here on this very web page. Just a guess. Because I’m not Tim Tebow, and no one outside of Tim Tebow will be able to tell him that he can’t play anymore. So I firmly believe he will be training twice as hard, if that’s possible, and will keep working and will be on a pro team in the US or Canada this season. There is no way he’s done, there is no “quit” in him. Even if he doesn’t get signed, he will show up on a practice squad somewhere. You have to respect that. Arguably the greatest college football player ever is not going to go gently into that good night.
That’s what will happen.
Here’s what should happen:
His time to strike is now from a marketing standpoint. The Tim Tebow brand is still actually strong. 3rd string quarterbacks don’t often get their own press conferences. Even New York Jets fans kind of feel sorry for him and say things like “we wish him well, but are glad he’s not our QB.” I think he should capitalize on his fame and popularity now in a lot of ways. The farther and farther away he gets from actually playing somewhere, his brand will be diminished ever so slightly. Like a slow drip until he gets older. He will never have ZERO brand; but it will simply diminish into one of “he was a great college football player and won a few games at the pro level, and I remember he was a religious guy.”
Yet, we know how passionate people are when it comes to him. Heck, he had a whole country “Tebow-ing” for a while there. I would tell him to go out and do speaking. Go to schools and talk to kids. Get involved with his favorite charities, and help raise money. Be a guest on talk shows. Make the rounds as a talking head on the NFL Network. He needs to share his story and connect with people, because those are his biggest assets. Everyone respects the man; they just don’t think he can play in the NFL. And at some point, it doesn’t matter what HE thinks of himself; if he doesn’t get hired, then that’s that. Still, unlike other famous players from other sports, it is almost impossible to dislike the guy. Say what you want about his skills at the pro level, say what you want about his religious message, but I don’t think anyone dislikes the person or thinks he’s a bad person.
He needs to leverage this now. His biggest assets are: his story, his success, his work ethic, his will and determination, his faith (in an ecumenical way), his looks, his fan base.
His biggest asset is not his left throwing arm.
So if you’re Tim Tebow, what do you do? At some point, don’t you have to look at what you have and put all your efforts towards that, versus what you don’t have? It doesn’t mean he has to get out of football. I could see him being a wonderful coach someday.
It does mean that he has a story and a viewpoint that no one else does, and he needs to leverage that somewhat quickly in the absence of a resurgent football career. And it does mean that perhaps he will have to make some of the toughest decisions he’s ever faced.