Two months from today -- Saturday, April 24 -- Tim Tebow's story will enter a new phase: We will know which team has drafted Tebow, a moment that will either come during the 1st round on Thursday April 22 or the 2nd/3rd rounds on Friday April 23.
In the roughly 60 days between now and then, Tebow will be the biggest story of the 2010 NFL Draft -- as he has been since he announced he was coming back to Florida in January 2009.
His press conference at the NFL Draft Combine on Friday will be the most-watched/-scrutinized moment of the week -- if the early-week frenzy over "Tebow 2.0" (per ESPN's Schefter) was any indication.
Less than a month from now, Tebow's "Pro Day" workout at Florida on March 17 -- which I bet will be carried live on ESPN and the NFL Network -- will be the biggest draft deal between now and the 1st day of the draft itself.
In the 4-week sprint from Pro Day until the 1st day of the Draft, there will be a day-to-day mania around rumors about which teams are interested in Tebow: Who might take him in the 1st round, who might trade up, what kind of scrum happens if he falls to the 2nd round, etc.
I still contend that despite the doubts of the draftniks, Tebow will be a 1st-round NFL pick. Revamping his mechanics -- in any sort of noticeable way leading up to March 17 -- will only make that easier.
It will drive the draftniks crazy, but they too will find themselves falling into line -- because even Todd McShay doesn't want to have his entire career defined around Tim Tebow. (You have already seen it in the way McShay dismisses Tebow's skill-set but still has him in the 2nd round.)
On a personal note, I'm still not sure what happens 60 days from now. When I launched TimTeblog, I saw his story in two parts: the 2009 college season and the lead-up to his being drafted into the NFL.
But what the Tebow frenzy -- particularly since the season ended -- has shown is that the intense interest in Tebow will only extend into the pros, from post-draft to minicamp to training camp to fantasy drafts to the regular season itself.
Should be a wild two-month sprint.
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"On a personal note, I'm still not sure what happens 60 days from now. When I launched TimTeblog, I saw his story in two parts: the 2009 college season and the lead-up to his being drafted into the NFL."
ReplyDeleteAlthough I hope you don't discontinue this blog (I love it), I can understand if you do. But if you do decide to end it, could you please leave it up for awhile? I only discovered this blog 2 months ago & haven't finished going through all of the archives yet.
Here's an interesting question for you: what happens to all that publicity if somehow he ends up in New England, where rookies are meant to maybe be seen, and almost certainly not heard?
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