There are many, many opinions about Tim Tebow.
Here’s mine: He’s a very fortunate young man.
This isn’t about him reportedly being on the cusp of signing with the Patriots. That’s a bonus.
No, Tim Tebow is fortunate to have landed an NFL job — period.
This isn’t about his skill level. He earned his shot. This is about supply and demand for jobs in his field. There are more qualified applicants than there are positions — Vince Young immediately jumps to mind — and here Tebow is, back in the league roughly six weeks after the Jets let him go. Young, meanwhile, has been out of work for more than nine months.
Once Tebow signs, there will be 122 quarterbacks on the 32 NFL clubs, according to Rotoworld’s depth charts. This total already excludes Mike Kafka, whom the Patriots waived Monday. Tavaris Jackson’s name is off the list, too; he was released by the Bills on Monday evening.
Of those 122 quarterbacks, 54 look like solid bets to make their clubs. This is probably a conservative figure. For instance, I have just one roster lock for the Browns (Brandon Weeden) and Eagles (Matt Barkley). Surely at least one other quarterback from each of those clubs figures to make the final roster.
I don’t have Tebow as a lock in New England, not by a long shot. (And you can bet other unemployed quarterbacks will keep an eye on his progress in New England.) The Patriots could simply elect to carry two quarterbacks once the season begins. At most, they would carry three, with Tebow likely being the third.
Applying that rule of thumb, the total number of NFL QB jobs is likely to range between 64 and 96. And with most of the starting jobs in the league already earned — and a good number of reserve roles locked up, too — the total number of open positions is not exactly overwhelming.
As the football world ponders how the Patriots will use Tim Tebow, I marvel at just how lucky he is. He’s back in the NFL before summer even began. Good for him -- and all the more sweet for him if he ever had a moment when he wondered if he was ever going to get another shot.