Tim Tebow Criticism from Broncos Shows Change in Organizational Regimes

The new pastime for NFL pundits has clearly become picking on Tim Tebow. A few weeks ago ESPN’s Merril Hoge criticized Tebow, leading to LeBron James of all people firing off some pro-Tebow tweets. On Wednesday, USA Today passed along criticism of Tebow by Boomer Esiason who said the quarterback “can’t play” and “can’t throw.”

Media personalities taking aim at Tebow should be expected, but what was surprising was Mike Silver’s report at Yahoo! Sports Tuesday. Silver quoted Broncos sources who said the former Heisman Trophy winner is the team’s fourth-best quarterback and a “major project.”

The doubts within the organization contrasts the support Tebow had from former Broncos coach Josh McDaniels who was fired and replaced by John Fox over the offseason. Although Fox made it known around draft time that he liked Tebow, Kyle Orton has proved to be a vastly superior quarterback during training camp (same with Brady Quinn, apparently).

Fox finally defended Tebow Wednesday, saying the team holds the quarterback “in high regard.” Maybe he’s just trying to supply the quarterback with confidence. Or maybe the organization is trying to rebuild the nearly-worthless stock of its former first-round pick. Either way, what’s surprising is that members of the organization are saying the team no longer supports Tebow the way they did under Josh McDaniels. While Denver likely won’t trade him anytime too soon, it’s clear he’s not the quarterback of the future unless something drastically changes.