Tim Tebow cut by Jaguars, ending TE switch experiment

Days after his 34th birthday — and after a pair of underwhelming blocking attempts in a preseason game went viral — the Jacksonville Jaguars have released Tim Tebow, likely effectively ending his NFL career and a long-odds attempt to transition from quarterback to tight end despite a long hiatus from the sport spent scuffling in Minor League Baseball.

Tebow pre-empted reports of his release by several minutes, releasing a pair of tweets in which he did not use the words “released” or “cut” to acknowledge the Jaguars’ decision but conveyed his gratitude for being given the opportunity to go through training camp as one of six tight ends the team carried into its first preseason game.

Confirmation came from ESPN’s Adam Schefter shortly after, along with a roundup of Jaguars transactions that suggests the team is keeping the rest of its tight ends for now as it cuts down to the NFL’s mandated mid-camp roster limit of 85 players.

Tebow’s release follows a pair of plays late in the Jaguars’ preseason loss to the Cleveland Browns last Friday that went viral thanks to Tebow losing his footing. The first, a technically successful seal block of an edge defender, prompted some to argue in defense of Tebow; the latter, showing him washed into the midst of a scrum by fairly minimal contact from a lineman, put in stark relief just how unready to block NFL defenders a converted quarterback returning to the game after almost a decade could actually be.

While Tebow’s tweets do not include a formal retirement from professional athletics — and I guess there’s still the possibility of a guest appearance on Holey Moley or something in his future — it now seems likely that he will return to his primary job as a college football analyst for the SEC Network and his passion as a missionary for his faith and the public face of the Tim Tebow Foundation, which has lately turned its sights on human trafficking.

He might take some on-air razzing from Marcus Spears or Paul Finebaum about those block attempts on SEC Nation, but my guess is Tebow will ultimately be just fine despite this high-profile fizzle. Things tend to work out for him.