Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick’s NFL chances differ, but they’re more alike than you think – By Shawn Windsor (Detroit Free Press) / May 23 2021
Tim Tebow is getting the chance to revive his NFL career after a nine-year absence from the league because he’s tight with Urban Meyer. And because Meyer’s big boss, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan didn’t think he’d lose season ticket holders or local television viewers when he agreed to Tebow’s one-year contract.
In fact, he presumably thought the opposite.
Within a day of last week’s announcement, Tebow’s jersey — No. 85, selling for $119.99 — topped the league’s online store in sales. This isn’t surprising for anyone who’s familiar with Tebow’s career, or his celebrity.
In other words, it was a business decision, and that’s fine… if we agree that Colin Kaepernick’s exclusion from the NFL — a “whiteballing,” if you will — was a business decision, too. It had nothing to do with his talent and skill, and everything to do with image.
On one hand, we have an owner who jumped at the chance to sell jerseys and, potentially, season tickets. On the other, we had a group of owners afraid they’d lose jersey sales and season ticket holders.
