I actually feel sorry for the Denver Broncos.

[Archae]

They drafted that Jesus freak Tebow. :eyes:

http://www.gazette.com/sports/round-97590-broncos-tebow.html

[rcrush]

1. One of em was Cartmans dad to.

And he was a Ginger!

[Captain Hilts]

2. There are a lot of "Jesus freaks" in sports, and life. nt

[Tommy_Carcetti]

3. I originally wanted to dislike Tim Tebow, but...

....the fact of the matter is, annoying eye black prosteylsyzing aside, everything I've heard about him seems to indicate he is genuinely a good, likeable guy. I think it was the Heisman Dinner story that won me over--he took a fan who had suffered from brain cancer as his date for the evening.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/dec/31/sp-stories-from-the-heart/sports-colleges/

I thought that was a pretty classy move on his part.

So yeah, the constant bible thumping on his part might be a little tiresome, but unlike some evangelicals, I do have to give props to Tebow for actually trying to live his faith rather than just expressing it.

So you'll have to forgive me if I'm actually hoping to see the man do well. I know there's been a lot of talk that he isn't NFL ready, but we'll see how it actually plays out.

[TheMightyFavog]

4. My prediction:

Tebow won't last more than four seasons in the NFL -- as a backup.

[one_voice]

5. Agree..

He's not ready for the NFL..don't know that he'll ever be NFL material. Time will tell.

[rurallib]

6. Isn't Rothlisberger a Jesus freak also?

I remember seeing a pic of him and he had something like "Jesus Saves" written on his shoes.

[jobycom]

7. I think they picked him way too high, but I don't care about his religious views.

Their only concern should be how he plays football, with a side concern of how much star power he has to draw money to the team. The latter will only matter if he is a successful player, though, after a year or two.

I think Tebow was an overrated QB in college. He was great, but all the talk of him being the greatest player ever was silly. He wasn't even the best QB in college when he was playing. Colt McCoy had more wins and better stats, and Bradford was more consistent and just as athletic until his injuries. People overhyped him because of his famous motivational speech, overlooking the fact that the person who really needed to be motivated was Tebow himself. Still, he did turn his season around and played impressive football after that.

I just don't think he was a sure enough thing in the NFL to justify where he was taken, and I'm surprised the Broncos felt they had to trade up and get him at just that spot, rather than waiting on him in the second round. Seems like a high cost for such an uncertain NFL player.

Then again, I really don't understand the draft mentality towards QBs this year. Bradford looks good, but with only two years of high quality play in a conference where he played only maybe four quality teams his whole career--and lost more of those than he won--I don't see why he was a number one pick. And Clausen played on a team where most of the time he stepped on the field he had a better team than his opponent, and still he did nothing with that team. Yet they were the two everyone liked. Meanwhile, McCoy, who won more big games than Bradford, set NCAA records for wins and accuracy, and was just one weird tiebreaker from playing in the national title instead of Bradford, was a late third rounder. It's not so much that I think McCoy should have been taken over Bradford--Bradford has the measurables that the NFL loves, so that's understandable--but I don't see why there was such a difference, nor why Bradford was such a high pick.

I think Bradford and McCoy should have been mid to late first rounders, Tebow a late second or early third rounder, and Clausen a fourth or later rounder. Honestly if I owned a team Clausen might have gotten a shot as an undrafted free agent, but that's about it. I can't understand what teams see in him. He looks like Brady Quinn or Tim Couch or Chris Simms to me--pretty, but with too average a career to make me take a chance on him.

Not sure how I got all that out of a comment about Denver's pick. :) I think it was a weak year for QBs, and maybe one of them--Bradford or McCoy--will still be playing in five years.

[nickinSTL]

8. Mostly I agree with your analysis

Bradford is good, but we'll see if he can actually do anything with the crappy team he's stuck with - and whether he can keep from getting hurt- I seem to recall that St Louis doesn't have much of a line.

I think McCoy is in a really good spot, sounds like he and Cleveland both wanted it to happen, and he could end up having the best career out of the lot.

I have to wonder what Carolina was thinking picking up both Clausen and Pike. 2 QBs in one draft? Does that mean they have very little confidence in Clausen? Not to mention Moore, who looked like their starter after Delhomme was benched.

I also wonder about the Bears taking Lefevour. Maybe they're trying to send a message to Cutler, but I still think that unless they do something about their offensive line, it won't matter who's under center, they'll struggle - and Forte and Taylor will go nowhere.

[Dr Morbius]

9. The Bears have a crying need for a backup QB.

It's a rare QB who goes all 16 games in a season. We had Caleb Hanie last year; that's THE Caleb Hanie to you.

I think the line will be better. The last couple games, after mega-disappointment Orlando Pace got hurt, they did pretty well. Still an issue at left guard, but hopefully Omiyale will have a much better year (he'll have to at that hefty $6 mill per year!). Olin Kreutz is getting long in the tooth, but he should still have one more year in him.

A bigger concern is the secondary, which looks just awful to me right now.

[nickinSTL]

10. Mike Tice seems to think the Bears' o-line is fine as is

I'm not sure I agree, I hope you (and Tice) are right. I hate to see Forte get nowhere and Cutler try to carry the team himself.

I agree the Bears need a backup QB - Hanie looked ok for the little bit I saw him play in the preseason last year, but I don't know a lot about him and he has little experience.

The experience factor sure isn't helped with a rookie, but having more options isn't a bad thing.

I just thought the Bears would have been better off trying to shore up that offensive line and look for a veteran backup for Cutler.