Trading For Tebow Would Be The Worst Move In Franchise History

It's been almost two years since I last wrote a post on BCC that even mentioned Tebow's name. Once he was drafted by the Broncos he was an irrelevant player that was nothing more than a opponent of the Jaguars once every three years or so and I pledged that I would refuse to play into the media circus that wants to tie Tebow to Jacksonville.

But with the signing of Peyton Manning, the Broncos have once again brought the Tebow story to relevance in Jacksonville. NFL.com's Michael Lombardi reports that the Jaguars are one of the teams that has "serious interest" in trading for the wildly popular Broncos quarterback.

While most reporters have said that Gene Smith has no interest in the former Heisman Trophy winner, there have been several indications that new owner Shahid Khan could be very interested. Khan has said that he would have drafted Tebow and that if a once in a lifetime opportunity like Tebow were to present itself, he would intervene in the Jaguars decision making and make sure the team pulls the trigger.

So while Smith may have no interest in Tebow, Khan might. And if he does enough, he might feel so inclined as to overrule the decision-making of the front office personnel and force a trade. While I still doubt the chances of such a move happening, if such a trade occurred it would be, without question, the worst move in the history of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Tania Ganguli got the ball rolling with a report that the Jaguars had "internal talks" about Tebow, but have not reached out to the Broncos for formal talks. As far as I'm concerned, I'd be shocked if all 31 teams besides the Broncos hadn't had some sort of internal talks about Tebow.

But a report from the Orlando Sentinel is even more substantial and noteworthy:

Jaguars' new owner Shahid Khan ended trade negotiations with Tebow's representatives and the Broncos late Tuesday night, but those talks are expected to resume Wednesday morning.

If Khan forces the trade it is because he is either a terrible and stubborn talent evaluator or someone who believes Jaguars fans are stupid. Regardless of which it is, Khan would be making a foolish decision that would have a very negative long-term impact on the franchise.

Don't talk to me about business decisions or ticket sales, because they don't matter. Winning matters. Does anyone remember how irrelevant Tebow was for the last three weeks of the season? It's called losing.

It doesn't matter who it is, winning is exciting and losing is boring. The most captivating thing for sports fans is when a player that is defying the odds or playing statistically poor wins. Ask Tim Tebow. Ask Jeremy Lin. Ask Vince Young. America loves it and America eats it up.

But ask any of those three players what happens when they start losing. They disappear and people stop caring.

The point is, if Tebow doesn't win in Jacksonville then he will not matter in the ticket sales. Winning is the best business decision an owner or general manager can make.

While I could make a million arguments why I'd take Blaine Gabbert over Tim Tebow, I'll let the professional talent evaluators make my argument for me. The man who drafted Tebow was fired shortly thereafter for quickly decimating the Broncos roster with poor decisions, while the new Denver management was quick to jump at the opportunity to bring in a new quarterback.

Now they're reportedly looking to trade the 24-year old former 1st rounder instead of keeping him around to backup a 36-year old with all kinds of question marks. By most reports, no team is willing to even trade anything more than a 5th round pick for Tebow.

If that's the perception of Tebow around the league, why would the Jaguars benefit from having him on the team? The only way they would is if Tebow turned in to a franchise quarterback....quickly.

As Alfie presented on Twitter, Tebow winning long-term is the only way it ends well.

The whole problem with Tebow in Jacksonville is this: The team/fans only win if Tebow actually becomes a good QB. If they bring in Tebow and he's not starting, people will say "he's not a practice player" and scream for him. If Tebow plays and is an utter failure, fans will say the team "used him wrong" and it's the coaches fault. The likelihood Tebow actually becomes a good quarterback however, is just so far against the odds...

If you bring him and and it blows up in your face, you fracture a large portion of diehard fans then lose the fair weather people. Then what? The only way to survive the "anger" of not having Tebow is to keep your hands completely clean of him. Because if you get Tebow and he fails, it's not going to be Tebow's fault. It's going to be the Jaguars fault.

Khan forcing a trade for Tebow will undercut the general manager and make no other major talent evaluator ever want to play in Jacksonville and no big name coach want to coach in Jacksonville. It wouldn't be shocking if a player like Uche Nwaneri demanded a trade or if free agents didn't want to come play in Jacksonville.

The only way the Jaguars win is if Khan realizes the long-term ramifications of such a move and stops before it's too late. If not, real Jaguars fans are in for the most sickening experience imaginable.