(
)
Tebow Time has run out with the Jets.
According to a source, the Jets will do their best to trade Tim Tebow after the season and if they fail to find a trade partner they will release him before free agency begins in March.
Tebow’s one year as a Jet has been an epic failure. After the team made the ballyhooed trade with the Broncos in March, they promised big things from Tebow in the Wildcat. They held secret practices in training camp to implement the “Tebow package.”
When the season came, Tebow spent more time on the sideline than in the game plan.
“Rex [Ryan] and Tony [Sparano] had no idea how to use him,” the source said.
The Jets seem to have traded for Tebow without thinking it through. The story they tell is general manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Rex Ryan came up with the idea over ice cream at Newark Airport. Two days later, Tebow was a Jet, costing the team a fourth-round draft pick and $2.5 million to the Broncos for money they had already paid Tebow.
Nine months later, the marriage has gone totally sour after the Jets humiliated Tebow this week by naming Greg McElroy the starting quarterback instead of Tebow after benching Mark Sanchez. Sources said Tebow was “fuming” when he found out Tuesday.
“The whole situation is a total mess,” a source said.
Tebow would not answer questions about his future when he met with reporters Wednesday. He said he would address it after the season, saying he had not asked for a trade “yet.”
He won’t have to ask. The Jets are as ready to move on from him as he is from them. Even though Tannenbaum’s job appears to be in jeopardy, it’s hard to imagine a new GM wanting to hold onto Tebow either.
A source said the Jets were shocked at how poor Tebow played in practice soon after he arrived. As Tebow struggled, McElroy improved and eventually gained the coaching staff’s backing. So when Ryan decided to give Sanchez the hook this week, his trust was in McElroy.
There was also the “Tebowmania” factor. One source described the organization as “frozen with fear” that Tebow would actually excel, creating a quarterback controversy that would wreck Sanchez’s psyche. Tebow wound up being more effective as the personal protector on the punt team than as an offensive player.
Appearing in 11 games — he missed three games with two cracked ribs — he’s attempted just eight passes — completing six for 39 yards and no touchdowns — and run 32 times for 102 yards.
Now, divorce is inevitable.
The Jets will try to do right by Tebow and find a trading partner, but that seems unlikely. When the Broncos put him on the market last year, the only serious bidders were the Jets and Jaguars.
“I would think there is very little market for Tebow,” said former Texans GM Charley Casserly, who is now an NFL Network analyst. “He’s a guy, you have to want to run that offense as part of a sub package for you. There wasn’t much of a market for him last year when Denver tried to trade him. I don’t see that being any different.”
Casserly suggested maybe Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who drafted Tebow in Denver, would take him if McDaniels gets a head coaching job this winter.
Tebow has a $2.5 million salary next year with one more year left on the deal after that.
If the Jets can’t trade him, they will release him before free agency begins on March 12. By releasing him, they would save $1 million in salary-cap money.
The question then becomes: Is there an NFL team that will sign Tebow after he played just 76 snaps this year?
“I just don’t think that you can run an offense that fits him and what drawbacks he has in the passing game and win in the National Football League,” former Colts GM Bill Polian said on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” yesterday. “So therefore, he doesn’t have a future. Now, if he’s willing to play another position, that’s another story entirely. He’s a good football player. I just don’t think — and I think there are others that agree with me — that he is a National Football League quarterback.”
Tebow said Wednesday he views himself as a full-time quarterback. Polian believes Tebow won’t get any suitors if he wants to play quarterback.
“I think it would depend entirely on what Tim’s state of mind is,” Polian said. “If his attitude is, ‘hey, I want to play quarterback, and I want to compete for the quarterback job, I want to be on the team and if I’m a backup, that’s ok.’ I’m not sure there’ll be a lot of interest there.”
brian.costello@nypost.com