Not every one of Tim Tebow’s former teammates have glowing praise for the Jets backup quarterback.
Demaryius Thomas caught the famous overtime pass in the Broncos wild-card win over the Steelers, but sounded less than excited about how the rest of the season went.
“It’s a business decision. I ain’t going to say I was sad because the only thing they remember is that pass,” Thomas said in an interview with 790 The Zone in Atlanta about the trade that sent Tebow from the Broncos to the Jets.
“You gotta go back and look at the rest of the games. I wasn’t getting no balls and you had to make some of these plays where some players were open and he is not making the throws, but I don’t want to talk bad about Tim, but hey I am happy we got Peyton (Manning).”
Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said recently that Sanhcez “better play well” or Tebow would take the starting job from him.
Thomas, who had 32 catches for 551 yards last season, said he thinks Sanchez’s starting job could be in jeopardy for different reasons. Thomas did not sound sold on the trade from the Jets side.
“I ain’t going to say it was a good move, but I really don’t know,” Thomas said. “I feel like Tim can get better, but it is going to take some time because he’s gotta read the defenses and throwing patterns, but I feel like he thinks he can go out there and take Sanchez’s spot. I ain’t going to talk bad about Sanchez, but he’s not one of the best quarterbacks in the game, so I feel good about Tim going out there.”
The signing of Manning by Denver made Tebow expendable and he was traded to the Jets the next day for a pair of late-round picks. In a series of interviews on ESPN recently, Jets star cornerback Darrelle Revis expressed that concern Tebow would only add to the locker room troubles that plagued the Jets last season.
Thomas said all the attention Tebow received was a problem in Denver.
“He works hard and just stay with him and you’ll be fine and that was basically it. There wasn’t much talk about him, but you know everything on ESPN was all about Tim,” Thomas said. “That bothered some players too because they would say ‘Tim Tebow Time.’ I felt like it was a team thing. If it wasn’t for the defense most of the time there wouldn’t be no supposed ‘Tim Tebow Time.’”
Thomas said that did not to lead to any tension in the locker room because the team had success under Tebow, who took over when the Broncos were 1-4 and led them to an 8-8 record and an AFC West title.