Tim Tebow to Sign With Philadelphia Eagles
Former Florida icon to join Chip
Kelly—and a deep crew of Eagles quarterbacks
By Kevin Clark in the Wall Street Journal
The former college icon will sign a
contract and be ready for the start of the Eagles’ off-season training this
week, a person familiar with the matter said. The Eagles worked out Tebow last
month but didn’t sign him then.
Tebow, 27, hasn’t appeared in a
regular-season NFL game since 2012 with the New York Jets, for whom he
attempted eight passes. The New England Patriots cut him in 2013.
In Philadelphia, Tebow will join a
deep quarterback crew that includes former St. Louis Rams starter Sam Bradford,
former Southern California star Matt Barkley and Tebow’s former Jets teammate, Mark Sanchez.
Tebow likely won’t contend for the
starting job this off-season but instead will probably assume a role similar to
what the Jets and Patriots envisioned for him: a role player who could fit into
special packages a few times a game. That is particularly important for Eagles
coach Chip Kelly, who ran a system at Oregon that relied on a running
quarterback, a role that Tebow perfected at the college level and shown flashes
of brilliance in at the pro level.
Tebow has struggled, however, with
accuracy. His career completion rate is 47.9%. NFL executives have said his
throwing delivery still needs more work to be quick enough for the pros.
Tebow starred and won the Heisman
Trophy at Florida, but his most notable NFL stint came with his first team, the
Denver Broncos. It was there during the 2011 season that he led the team to an
AFC West title and engineered a 29-23 playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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