On Monday July 16, a group of fans held a rally in the parking lot of Everbank Field with the intention to get the attention of the ownership of the Jacksonville Jaguars to sign free agent quarterback Tim Tebow. Tebow is a former Heisman Trophy winning quarterback from the University of Florida who has become the centerpiece for discussion in recent years for his lackluster performance since entering the NFL. The rally was set to begin at 3:16 in the afternoon, and was supposed to last three hours and sixteen minutes reports ESPN. This rally was supposed to show the management of the Jaguars that they passionately want to sign Tebow, but so far, management has not shown any response to this rally.
The significance of the 3:16 time is a reference to the Bible verse ‘John 3:16’, which Tebow had on his eye black during the 2009 BCS National title game. This rally was put together by a small group of fans who are passionate about the Jaguars signing Tebow. James Stewart, one of the organizers of this rally, said that there will be more of these rallies in the future as well as a Twitter campaign and bumper stickers to make this Tebow campaign very public.
Stewart explained to ESPN that all NFL teams are a product and so far this year the Jaguars product is suffering. Their season is starting off very poorly and there does not appear to be much hope for improvement, but the addition of Tebow could improve the overall product value. FOX Sports also reported that some of these fans have created a website called “Jags-Tebow Why Not?” which focuses on the idea that since the Jaguars have nothing else to lose, why not sign Tim Tebow? The site argues that if they sign Tebow, fan attendance would increase as well as an interest in Jaguars merchandise.
There are other groups of fans, including myself that are not on board for the Jaguars signing Tim Tebow. There is another fan created website called “Evenifheisreleased.com”, with the opposing message that the team should not sign Tebow. I myself feel that the best move for the Jaguars is to focus on the young talent they have and develop as a team and not worry about bringing in Tebow just for attention.
There is going to be some debate between Jaguars fans about what to do about Tebow, but all Jaguar fans want to see their team improve and make Jacksonville one of the elite teams in the NFL.
Photo Courtesy of Twitter
