A Leap of Faith

In the 75 years that the National Football League has held a college draft, perhaps no player received more attention and scrutiny then former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. From the debate over his mechanics, to the possibility of an outright position change, Tebow's journey has intrigued the football world more then any college prospect of the past.

The story of Thursday night's first round, and the story of the 2010 NFL draft in general, was that Tim Tebow was selected in the first round by the Denver Broncos. Rewind back to the Senior Bowl in January and some scouts had Tebow as an un-draftable quarterback. Fast forward to today, and not only is Tebow a quarterback, he is a highly touted first round pick that now must live up to enormous expectations.

Everybody knows about his intangibles and leadership abilities on and off the field. Everybody knows he was the first sophomore to ever win the Heisman trophy back in 2007. Last but not least, everybody knows he is a two time National Champion, and is in the discussion of being the greatest college football player of all time. That and eighty nine cents can get you a coffee at McDonalds.

Since taking over for future Hall of Fame coach Mike Shanahan in 2009, Josh McDaniels has reshaped the entire Denver Broncos roster. Pro Bowl talents Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, and Tony Scheffler have been shipped out, leaving Denver with a need for play makers on offense. Unfortunately for Broncos fans, drafting a developmental project like Tim Tebow in the first round is not exactly a one way ticket to immediate success.

Most draft analysts and scouts had Tebow as the fourth or fifth best quarterback prospect coming into the draft. Certainly nobody thought he would be selected ahead of heralded Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen. If the pressure on Tebow seemed to be at a high level before the draft, it has hit a fever pitch now that the Broncos have deemed him as the twenty fifth best player in the draft.

With Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn already on the roster, Tebow will be able to sit and learn the game this upcoming season. However, in today's NFL he will be expected to be ready to take over in 2011. For a player with so much to overcome, Tebow has a lot of work cut out for him in these next couple of months. It would seem that a logical step one would be to learn how to take snaps from center. From there he can learn everything else, but lets start with taking a snap.

Josh McDaniels has officially tied his fate to Tim Tebow. Now it would seem that Tebow would be a great person to rely on, but this is the National Football League. Tebow certainly has the talent and will to play in the NFL but at what cost should a coach risk his job on one player? McDaniels is out to prove that he can do something that most NFL people believe cannot be done, which is turning Tim Tebow into a successful NFL quarterback. For a coach who won 11 games in 2008 with a quarterback who had not started a game since High School, maybe the Teobw project will not be so hard after all.

McDaniels better hope this works out because if it doesn't he too will join Jay Cuter, Brandon Marshall, and others on the list of ex-Denver Broncos.