This is too funny:
Right now, the Tim Tebow trade is on hold because the Jets and Broncos are haggling over language in Tebow’s contract, as first reported by ESPN Insider Adam Schefter.
There’s a chance this trade could be nullified and, unless they come up with a plausible explanation, the Jets could look real bad.
The Denver Post, citing details from the disagreement, suggests the Jets agreed to the trade before reading Tebow’s contract. The contract has a clause that states, any team acquiring Tebow has to kick back $5.06375 million to the Broncos in advance salaries from 2012, 2013 and 2014, according to the paper.
This is complex stuff, but the bottom line is this: If the Jets pay $5 million to the Broncos, it would make a bad trade worse. They already agreed to give up two draft picks. It makes absolutely no sense to that kind of money to backup quarterback/specialty player. No sense whatsoever.
Love it.
redshirt
I don’t. Unless the trade goes through. Tebow to the Jets is best for all parties involved. And I mean me, and my LULZ.
Martin
Fucking lawyers, how do they work?!
Tom Levenson
It’s all about me, I know, but it’s been very demanding time at work, and here the Jets are doing their best to make me smile. This is a good day.
General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)
Just gawdly commerce, long as baby jeevus gets a cut of the action, no one’s wheaties will get pissed in.
Mark S.
Wait, that $5 million is in Tebow’s contract? Why would the Jets have to honor that bullshit?
Tom65
Don’t even think about it, Dan Snyder.
Warren Terra
Looks like the Jets made a dumb move – possibly one they can escape from with their wallets if not their pride intact, if they haven’t signed anything yet. Yes, they deserve utter ridicule for committing (at least in principle) to millions of dollars without getting a professional to read the paperwork.
But why is all the abuse reserved for the Jets? Looks like, if the Jets manage to back out, the Broncos have engineered a situation that might be even worse. They can’t trade Tebow unless they can find someone willing to toss them $5 million for the privilege of hiring him.
ETA @Mark S.:
Without clicking through, just fom Cole’s blockquote, looks like this is advance pay they’ve already given Tebow against future years, and they want reimbursement from the team buying out his contract.
redshirt
@Tom65: No, do. That would make this even more amusing.
I’ve not gotten any Redskin’s laughs this off season – have I missed anything so far?
MikeJ
@Mark S.: I agree. Looks to me like Tebow owes the Broncos $5million. I don’t know why anyone would agree to buy him if they have to pay off his salary advance.
David Koch
Tebow rises from the dead.
KG
I don’t get the Jets even making an offer in the first place. There’s maybe 5 teams I could see making a move for Tebow and that’d mostly be on the “fuck it, what we’ve been doing isn’t working, let’s go all in on the spread option and see if we can’t get lucky” line of thinking.
Those teams would be: Miami, Jacksonville, Cleveland, Tampa Bay (maybe), Kansas City
edmund dantes
Only the Jets could even screw up a screw up. Of course they are the only team that didn’t know they also had to kick in the $5 million. LOL. I love it. The Jets are so dysfunctional. They just lurch from latest fad to latest fad. They are horribly run. They also have a massive inferiority complex.
redshirt
Jacksonville is where he should go – they’re gonna suck anyways and need the fans and money, which Tebow would bring given the UoF connections.
But that’s boring. Tebow to NYC!
Gin & Tonic
@edmund dantes:
Well, they’re from New Jersey. What do you expect?
Peregrinus
@redshirt:
As a Bills fan (as much as anyone is a Bills fan, anyway), I’m forced to reply: You mean New Jersey?
Julia Grey
Is this the funniest thing I’ve read all day?
I dunno, but only because it’s been a VERY funny day.
Keith
Maybe HBO gets money-crazy and decides to throw in to get Tebow on their Jets documentary for the ratings. Prolly not since they don’t have a show to run bum horses any more.
redshirt
@Peregrinus: Well, if you want to be technical, Buffalo is New York’s only team. That is, until Godell gets his way and moves them to Toronto.
Gex
I look forward to the constant whining that this poor Christian is being treated unfairly in the NFL.
Svensker
I am just hatin’ this.
Crums.
samara morgan
@KG:
all in for the Game Changer.
;)
geg6
So wait…now do I have this right?
Not only is Touchdown Jeebus a shitty QB with the worst kind of fans imaginable, but his contract makes him poison, financially speaking?
Ha. Haha. HAHAHA. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Splitting Image
@Warren Terra:
The Jets’ problem is that if they back out of the trade saying they didn’t know what was in the contract, it makes them look like mugs. It will make getting a fair deal harder each and every time they make a trade going forward. The Broncos losing $5 million by agreeing to eat that clause is small change by comparison.
Amir Khalid
In the normal course of such dealings, wouldn’t the New York Jets (or their lawyers) have had a look at Tebow’s Denver Broncos contract, precisely to learn of details like this that could trip things up? This looks to me like a failure of due diligence on the Jets’ part. If they actually declined the opportunity to do it, then that would be rank stupidity on their side.
KG
@samara morgan: I dunno, I keep thinking that at some point, some NFL team is going to try the spread option, if only because so many teams in college and high school are running it. It’ll take brass cajones to do it, because it’ll mean a 3-5 year commitment in the draft and free agency before you can really judge, and if it goes bad, you’re possibly looking at a lost decade as a franchise. But if it works?
Ed in NJ
@KG:
Tony Sparano, the new Jets OC, was formerly the head coach at Miami, and love running the wildcat. At Miami he ran it with Ronnie Brown, and even drafted Pat White way too high at one point for the same reason he wants to bring in Tebow.
Of course, as a Giants fan, I was just looking forward to the first time Rex Ryan used the f bomb around Tebow and he curled up into the fetal position.
Culture of Truth
It’s not the Jets’ job to read Tebow’s contract with the Broncos, which obviously does not bind the Jets in any way.
They had a handshake deal, but the Broncos want an extra $5 million which they are not getting from anybody, period.
Bill Belichick's evil genius
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
suck on that, Rexy
David Koch
@Gex:
/fixed
samara morgan
@Splitting Image: i think the godbotherers in Alabama will plunk down the fundage.
im with Cole.
this is supersweet.
redshirt
@KG: The stock answer to your scenario is injuries would prevent any NFL team from trying. It can work in College and High School due to the lower class of defensive athletes, but at the NFL level, everyone’s a beast.
John O
@redshirt:
Exactly. Jesus’ QB in the satanic Big Apple, with a side of existing QB with (possibly justified) confidence problems. Nothing but good can from it.
Cat Lady
Woody Johnson clearly needs a tax cut.
samara morgan
@KG: you missed my point dude.
Touchdown Jeebus is the up-for-bids Sarah Palin of the NFL.
He’s a hail mary pass for the clubs you mentioned.
KG
@Ed in NJ: yeah, but the Jets also just re-upped the Sanchize, and run a much more traditional offense (hell, too traditional in that they run too much and don’t throw enough). And I heard this morning on ESPN radio that Miami didn’t run the wildcat at all this year. I thought they ran it a couple years ago because they lost something like 4 quarterbacks in 3 weeks and had nothing else going for them.
Peregrinus
@redshirt:
Eeeeeexactly. I’m a WNY-er by choice, so a few of us at work tend to take pride in being “fans” (again, loaded term) of New York’s only football team.
Culture of Truth
The story I read on my news feed made it seem like entirely a Bronco screw up, from signing bad contract with Tebow to failing to negotiate properly with the Jets. In any case, they’re not getting $5 million, so in my opinion they look like ‘mugs’
KG
@redshirt: yeah, but didn’t they say the same thing about the West Coast Offense and the spread formations we see all the time now? And with Cam Newton’s success and Tebow’s qualified success, it seems like it’d be more likely, not less.
Culture of Truth
Seriously, can you imagine saying to the new team, “oh by the way, could you give us money back we already paid the guy?” It’s like when Albert Brooks wanted the casino to give the money back. I’d laugh John Elway out of the room.
redshirt
@John O: Don’t forget about the Rex factor.
Tebow – Sanchez – Ryan and assorted other locker room cancers would make the Jets a full time reality show. It would be glorious.
redshirt
@Peregrinus: I like the Bills. Besides the Jets ( F them!), AFC East, Represent!
MikeJ
@Culture of Truth: If the Broncos want their $5million they should get it from the person they loaned it to.
cmorenc
The most infamous player acquisition screw-up of all time was not a trade, but a draft choice, and not football, but basketball, when (after the Houston Rockets made a sensible choice with the #1 pick in choosing Hakeem Olajuwon) the Portland Tralblazers, with the #2 pick, passed over Michael Jordan to pick Sam Bowie, a chronically injured center. (That’s why Jordan wound up in Chicago, who picked him at #3). Bowie had already missed the entire two middle years of his college career with chronic shinbone injuries; yeah, the Blazers needed a big man with the loss of Walton, but for all his greatness, Walton’s Achilles heel with Blazers had been…chronic foot injuries. So you’d think the Blazers would shy away from a player with a known propensity for chronic injuries limiting their ability to play, but nooo. However, that’s not all: Portland also has the notorious distinction of having made the close second-worst all-time draft pick (with the #1 choice in the entire draft no less) in choosing LaRue Martin (another big man) ahead of future hall-of-famers Bob McAdoo and Julius Erving.
The Jets may, on average, have been the worst-run team in sports over the years since the Namath glory days ended, but the Tebow trade fiasco looks a lot milder compared to the Blazers passing up Jordan, McAdoo, and Erving for two of the most marginal journeymen ever with their top draft pick.
redshirt
@KG: I don’t recall any such caution about the West Coast offense, since it is almost by definition a “Safe” offense for all involved – dink and dunk with the QB getting rid of the ball quickly.
Cam Newton is a freak, but his arm kept people honest. Kid can sling it. He got a lot of his rushing TD’s in the red zone too. But all it will take to change his style of play is a big hit or two, and he’ll be forced to become a more traditional QB.
Vick is the best example of this of course. Look what’s happened last couple of years – he’s dynamite when he plays. He just doesn’t get to play a lot due to injury.
Gin & Tonic
@cmorenc: I know you’re talking draft picks, but I always thought the worst hoops trade ever was the Pistons trading away Dave DeBusschere for Walt Bellamy and Butch Komives.
Peregrinus
@redshirt:
Heck yes. To be honest, though, the Jets get slagged on so much that the heat almost makes a fan out of me. Not that I know enough about football to really make a judgment – but, at least from my friends, a lot of the critique seems to be around things like Rex Ryan’s lack of professionalism, and my response is “well, so fucking what?”
American football is a brutal sport – that doesn’t mean that good tactics or strategy don’t exist. From a historical standpoint, football fills the same niche other sports (dueling, jousting, wrestling, gladiatorial games) have filled for other civilizations. To me, I guess, the Jets’ general aesthetic seems more honest about what football is than more polished teams. (And then, of course, there’s the Raiders.) But that’s my grumpy asshole’s view of things.
Culture of Truth
“SamTeBowie”
samara morgan
@MikeJ: heh.
like that will happen.
i dont care where he goes, as long as he goes AWAY.
moar Onion.
Arm The Homeless
I fully expect the Dolphins to offer their entire draft class for him and then re-hire Tony Sparano. Only then will the league recognize the genius and beauty of the Wildcat!
redshirt
@Peregrinus: I agree 100%. The NFL is America’s gladiatorial games (speaking of which – anyone watch “Spartacus” on Starz? My god, I just started watching and I’ve never seen anything like it!). However, it’s pretty clear which direction the NFL is heading – and it’s away from the more “honest” version of the sport you describe.
They’ve got to Disneyfy it, for no other reason really so that Mom’s feel safe letting their kids play when they’re young.
Shawn in ShowMe
@KG:
Running the spread doesn’t get your quarterback killed. The replacement cost for an NFL quarterback, until recently, was on the order of $50 million.
Now that there’s a new collective bargaining agreement and the first quarterback in the draft no longer gets $50 million guaranteed, maybe some franchise would be willing to roll the dice on a wildcat offense.
Sevenless
What a disturbingly precise number.
“We would have done it for $5.0637 million, but not a penny more!”
Splitting Image
@Culture of Truth:
I don’t think you’re exactly wrong here, but the time for the Jets to laugh at Elway was before they shook hands on the deal and announced it to the press.
Remember the time Kim Basinger backed out of a deal to star in Boxing Helena? The Jets are Kim Basinger. I’ve seen the movie and I think Basinger did the right thing, but she still looked like a moron for agreeing to do it in the first place.
Culture of Truth
like Rex Ryan’s lack of professionalism, and my response is “well, so fucking what?”
adding, compared to fucking who? Saint Sean Payton? Sir William Belichick of Novus Englandus?
T.R. Donoghue
@Culture of Truth:
Of course the Jets would be bound by Tebow’s contract. Do you think that after a trade the player has no contract with his new team? That every traded player becomes a free agent and that they negotiate a new deal with the new team?
It most certainly was the Jets obligation to read the contract that they would be assuming by trading for Tebow.
pragmatism
to win the super bowl, the broncos sacrificed a virgin.
elmo
Bah. It’s chump change. Pay it, and make the money back putting cameras in the locker room and producing a mega-hit reality TV series from the inevitable hijinx.
koalaholik
@samara morgan: “i dont care where he goes, as long as he goes AWAY.”
I agree whole-heartedly. Living in the Denver Metro area I can tell you that with the news obsessed with Tebow and Manning, nuclear war could start and it would not be covered until the last 2 minutes of the telecast.
Linnaeus
@cmorenc:
As one who grew up a Detroit Lions fan, I might argue that point.
KG
@Shawn in ShowMe: I’m not talking Wildcat though. I’m talking a spread option like Auburn ran with Newton and Florida ran with Tebow. Shotgun, spread formation. And it doesn’t even necessarily require the QB to run all the time. Chris Leak at Florida wasn’t much of a runner. The QB at Auburn this year wasn’t much of a runner either.
JGabriel
@Amir Khalid:
This is what I’m wondering too: Is it a failure of due diligence on the Jets part, or a failure to disclose on the Broncos part?
.
T.R. Donoghue
@JGabriel:
I don’t know the NFL rules but common sense would lead me to believe that two teams engaged in a trade are required to give the other team access to any contracts for the players involved.
I don’t see how the Broncos would just get to hide the contract. Seems to me that the Jets didn’t read the contract.
JGabriel
@redshirt:
How so? Worth tuning in / downloading / streaming?
.
Peregrinus
@Culture of Truth:
Funny you mention that, because the person in question is a rabid Patriots fan . . .
JGabriel
@samara morgan:
Maybe the Broncos could play the Saints and secretly offer their own bounty.
.
KG
@JGabriel: I watch it. The first season was great. Haven’t watched the prequel season yet. Second season is good, but it’s tough because the guy who played Spartacus in the first season died and was replaced, and they changed an actress for another role. But still very much worth watching.
2liberal
@Gin & Tonic:
re: worst hoops trade – robert parish and #3 overall pick (kevin mchale) for the #1 overall pick (Joe Barry Carroll). Actually this was also the best overall trade – for the Celtics!
Anniecat45
The Broncos should keep Tebow in any event. They’ll need somebody to play quarterback when Manning’s neck falls apart.
I mean, please, could we get real here? Manning’s been a great quarterback but he’s 36, he’s had 4 surgeries, including a Level One fusion, in his neck. the only questions about him are when he will be hurt again and how bad the injury will be.
Julie
@cmorenc: You can add passing up Kevin Durant for chronically injured big man Greg Oden to that list of Blazer draft failures as well.
FlipYrWhig
@cmorenc: And then there was Greg Oden. What is it with the Blazers and feet?
Roxie
Horrible day. This thread is harder for me to read than a thread at Erick. Still, Jets fan for life!
Socraticsilence
@samara morgan:
In fairness Tebow actually excelled at elements of being a QB- namely the red zone (where he tied Rodgers for first in efficency) and the Deep Ball, additionally, he’s not horrible for a 3rd year guy, he has flaws but he’s actually the second best QB from his draft class in basically every metric. Oh and finally, there’s the one massive thing that seperates Tebow and Palin- Tebow doesn’t quit. Heck, despite your contention in the previous thread most Broncos fans while not sold on the guy as a long term solution did recognize the massive upgrade he was over neckbeard.
Gravenstone
Olbermann just now. “Tim Tebow is traded to the NY Jets? Tebow isn’t traded to the NY Jets? Aw man, he can’t even complete a trade!”
redshirt
@JGabriel: Depends of course. It’s in the style of the movie “300”, so it’s very lovely to look at. It’s supposedly historically accurate, so there’s that. But my gods – the sex and violence. Off the charts. If you’re in any way turned off by violence, gore, and rampant sex, the show is not for you.
It’s got great writers and the details (costumes, cultural traditions, etc) are magnificent.
I highly recommend if those caveats don’t give you pause.
AxelFoley
I know the deal has hit a snag, but you mean to tell me no one thought to say “T-T-Timmy and the Jets!”
danielx
I can’t see what the Jets can possibly be complaining about. With Tebow they’ll have Jeebus on their side and you cannot put a dollar value on that. Clearly any team located in the godless evil metropolis of Noo Yawk needs all the divine influence it can arrange…
Culture of Truth
@T.R. Donoghue: Yes you are correct, I misspoke they should read the contract, I was under the impression this clause referred to reimbursement if Tebow retired or could not play.
BruceFromOhio
Oil and water: Ryan’s oil is poor media for mixing in TT’s water. That it cost the Jets millions and some choice draft picks won’t be apparent until afterwards. TT’s gonna have to amp it up if he wants to stay in the NFL. Time and Sanchez stats will tell.
Bronco’s, OTOH, have committed some pretty sweet jujitsu: extra picks, cash on hand, Manning the Elder, and lighter luggage on the bus without all the Bible-weight (real and implied). Nicely done, Mr Elway.
samara morgan
@Socraticsilence: /yawn
then Orton came to Denver and kicked Tebows ass.
nope, not buying what you’re selling.
realnrh
I have no idea what in the world the Jets think Tebow is going to do other than chew up cap space. Well, there is one thing. The moment the Sanchize has another one of his flops, the New York sports media will all be screaming to hand the reins over to Tebow, and we’ll get to enjoy a few more years of Jets locker room poison.
c2828
@samara morgan: confused how orton came to denver and kicked tebows ass, 12-22 record isnt much ass kicking. he isnt the traditional qb that we’ve all come to expect but he made the games much more exciting and fun to watch.
samara morgan
@c2828: Kyle won. he came to Denver and beat tiny tim.
lol
most of us sapients cringed every time the little missionary-spawned creeper took a knee to Big White Plastic Jeebus on the field.
isnt it bad enough those christofascist fuckers are trying to ram their moronic godbothering into our classrooms, government, and womens uteruses?
do we have to have it in sports as well?