When Tim Tebow was traded to the New York Jets, we searched for reasons why. How would he fit into their scheme? What did it mean for Mark Sanchez's future?
We really shouldn't have thought about the football reasons at all. Tebow moves the needle. He makes money. This Jets regime is obsessed with raising its profile and owning the back page in New York. Mission accomplished.
Jones: Jets circus opens
The Jets opened practice to the media. Predictably, all eyes were on Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, Kimberly Jones reports. **More ...**
On the same day Tebow was shown off for his first OTA practice, the Giants -- the defending Super Bowl champions -- lost their top wide receiver, Hakeem Nicks, to a broken foot. Our friend, Peter King of SI.com, ran a great experiment to test how the five major New York papers handled the stories.
Nicks' injury is a far more important football story when compared with how Tebow looked throwing passes in shorts and a T-shirt in the middle of May. But it wasn't the bigger story.
Some 6,971 words were devoted in the five papers to Tebow's first practice. Only 2,104 words were written about Nicks. That's what you call a blowout.
Tebow sells. That's why he's a New York Jet.