Freelance quarterback coach Steve Clarkson believes his client, Tim Tebow, still can be a starting passer in the NFL -- just not for the New York Jets.
After saying this week that Tebow was "purposefully sent to New York" in a sabotage move by the Denver Broncos, Clarkson clarified his comments Thursday on "The Dan Patrick Show."
"I wasn't making necessarily a reference that the Broncos did anything wrong on their end, it was just ... looking at it from the outside in, if you're looking at the Broncos, they had a very volatile situation," Clarkson said. "... You're bringing in Peyton Manning -- who there's no argument that he should be the quarterback -- and that was the right choice. But now what do you do with Tim Tebow? It was a highly sensitive situation there because you did have a split fan base, at some point, that really wanted (Tim) to be their quarterback and felt that he was dealt unfairly.
"At least common sense would say, man, one thing you don't want to have happen is that maybe Peyton doesn't play a season or what have you, or that doesn't go well, mainly because he's not healthy and Tim Tebow goes someplace else and blows up. That's going to be very tough for your franchise to have to deal with that. Common sense would say, look, you send him some place where maybe it's not the best of situations. He's out of your hair and he's somebody else's problem. New York was a willing participant and it was a perfect scenario."
While touting his wandering blog post on the subject, Clarkson continued to ignore that: (a) few teams were interested in Tebow, and (b) the Broncos gave Tebow input into where he'd be shipped.
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After previously calling Mark Sanchez a "broken-spirited quarterback with very little support," Clarkson said Thursday that Sanchez should be the Jets' starter. His hope for Tebow, it appears, is to escape a clogged quarterback room for greener pastures.
Clarkson also clarified he isn't Tebow's personal coach and only worked with him for a "couple" days. He said he was brought in to give his personal opinion of Tebow's mechanics at the position. He's done that and more.
If Clarkson helped Tebow on Thursday by touting his "powerful arm" and fixable footwork, he did his client no favors with a somewhat rambling on-air appearance that sounded more like a fellow talking Jets football at the local watering hole than anything attached to reality.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
