By Sam Gardner, FOXSports.com The New York Jets may have released Tim Tebow last Monday, but not having a team to play for has done little to dim the quarterback’s seemingly ubiquitous presence in the spotlight over the past few days. On Monday, Forbes named Tebow the most influential athlete in sports, casting aside any concerns about the idle QB’s lack of employment. Of course, Tebow wouldn’t be unemployed if Barack Obama would just listen to Jacksonville Jaguars fans, who started an online petition to have the president urge the Jags to sign Tebow, who grew up in the Jacksonville area and played football at Nease High School. (Incidentally, Tebow’s experience as a home-schooled student playing for a public high school was cited in a Texas senate bill also passed the same day.) Officials removed the petition from the We The People website after a few hundred signatures had been added, calling the petition a violation of the terms of participation, but I’m not so sure even the White House could have convinced the Jaguars to take a chance on the popular, but sparsely-used Tebow. At least not based on new Jags GM David Caldwell’s interview with Alex Marvez and Bill Polian on the duo’s SiriusXM NFL Radio show Tuesday night. "For us, it was always about a fresh start," Caldwell told Marvez and Polian when asked about signing the former University of Florida star. "It was about new energy here with coach (Gus) Bradley, with Shad Khan being our new owner, myself as a first-time general manager and a coaching staff that has a lot of first-time coaches there, too. "We just wanted a fresh start. We didn't want the same recurring themes coming up." Polian, the former GM of the Indianapolis Colts, agreed, adding: "David has been around a lot of really good quarterbacks. He knows what a really good quarterback looks like. He's able to judge quarterbacks. My opinion is he's made the right judgment. It's time to stop beating that (Tebow) drum." That message didn’t make it, however, to John Morgan, a Florida trial lawyer whose “For the People” slogan, his hiring of former Florida governor Charlie Crist and his public involvement in some of the state’s most high profile cases has made him one of the most recognizable civic figures in the area. Morgan, a former Gator himself, released a radio ad this week urging the Jaguars owner Khan to sign Tebow, using Tebow’s past success at Florida and with the Broncos and the Jaguars’ recent futility and attendance issues as justification for the move:
It seems unlikely at this point that Morgan is going to talk the Jaguars into backing off their no-Tebow stance, and given his undesirable skillset and the circus he brought to New York, Tebow may find it difficult to find work again as a quarterback in the NFL — though there's always going to be a place for him in the Arena League That being said, if we’ve learned anything from the last week — or the last year — it’s that Tebowmania can survive without Tebow seeing the field, and it won’t be going away any time soon.
