Urban Meyer, who coached Tim Tebow at Florida, has always insisted that Tebow can be an NFL star. He just wants to see an NFL team let Tebow run his offense, his way.
Asked on ESPN what the Jets should do with Tebow, Meyer said the same spread offense he runs in college would “absolutely” work in the NFL, and that the biggest thing is an NFL coach just needs to trust Tebow to take over games himself.
“Let him play,” Meyer said. “Just let him play.”
Asked if that’s what the Broncos did, Meyer answered, “Not really.” According to Meyer, the Broncos were too often too conservative with Tebow, and when the Denver offense was at its best -- as it was in the playoff win over Pittsburgh -- that’s when Tebow was given the freedom to run the offense his own way, hurting defenses with his feet and then making plays with his arm when defenses had to stop the run.
“When they had success I think they did,” Meyer said. “When you started seeing him throw against those easy coverages it was because they had to stop the run.”
It remains to be seen whether the Jets will let Tebow play, but the current plan to use him in the Wildcat as the backup to Mark Sanchez doesn’t seem consistent with what Meyer is urging. To really make the most of Tebow’s skill set, an NFL team would need to completely install an entire offense around him, not use his plays as a backup plan. The Jets may be ready to let Tebow play 20 snaps a game, but they’re not ready to hand the offense over to him completely.
