Baugh, Tarkenton and Tebow

Will Tim Tebow, the University of Florida's star quarterback who already has two national chapionships and a Heisman Trophy on his resume, have a successful NFL career? We won't have any idea until at least 2010, because Tebow is returning to the Gators for his senior season.

Nevertheless, recently fired Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden, certainly thinks so.

While answering a question about the spread offense's viability in the NFL during an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Gruden says:

No question. The hard part is, you have to isolate the option. That's why Tim Tebow is so interesting to me. He's like Brandon Jacobs playing quarterback. He's 250 pounds. He's the strongest human being who's ever played the position. Ever. He will kick the living [expletive] out of a defensive lineman. He'll fight anybody. He is rare. Tebow is the kind of guy who could revolutionize the game. He's the 'wildcat' who can throw. Most of the teams that have the wildcat back there, it's Ronnie Brown, it's Jerious Norwood, it's whoever you want to say it is. This guy here is 250 pounds of concrete cyanide, man. And he can throw. He throws well enough at any level to play quarterback.

I think it would be fascinating to see an NFL team (most likely a bad one) decide to adopt a college-style option or spread offense, simply to see if it could gain a foothold. But, a new coach trying to solidify his career has too much to lose, and a more experienced (theoretically, successful) coach has too little to gain, so it is unlikely we will see a seismic shift in the near future.

That being said, Tebow would be in rare company if he is able to prove Gruden right and revolutionize the professional game by utilizing his skill-set. So far, only two quarterbacks have really done that: Sammy Baugh and Fran Tarkenton, both Hall-of-Famers.

Sammy Baugh, Washington Redskins (1937-1952)
Baugh was an incredible all-around athlete -- in 1943, he led the league in passing, punting and interceptions -- but he revolutionized the game by popularizing the forward pass. Before Baugh, quarterbacks were expected to hand the ball off, or run with it themselves.

But Slingin' Sammy threw the ball, and he could throw it well. His success relative to his contemporaries is reflected in the fact that he led the league in passing yards six times (tied for first with Steve Young). Baugh finished his 16-year career with 187 touchdowns and more than 21,000 passing yards.

The Washington Post's Michael Wilbon recognized Baugh's contributions in a December 19, 2008, column printed shortly after the great quarterback's death.

The nickname may have come from his prowess on the pitching mound, but it fit the way he would play the quarterback position. Benny Friedman threw the football down the field in 1928 for the NFL Detroit Wolverines and 1929 for the New York Giants, but Baugh was the first to play the position as we know it today. "Baugh demonstrated," [NFL Films president Steve] Sabol said, "that the forward pass could be an effective weapon instead of an act of desperation."

Fran Tarkenton, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants (1961-1978)
Football is a game of cycles and Tarkenton revived the rushing quarterback, which Baugh had so prominently discarded. NFL Films declared Tarkenton the top mobile quarterback of all-time, largely because he pioneered the role.



Scrambing' Fran finished his 18-year career as the top passing (47,003 yards and 342 touchdowns) and top rushing (3,673 yards, 32 touchdowns) quarterback in the NFL. Thirty years after his retirement, only three quarterbacks -- Randall Cunningham, Steve Young and Michael Vick -- have surpassed his rushing totals.

Tim Tebow, Class of 2010
Currently, every quarterback in the NFL falls into one of two categories: A pocket-passer (a la Baugh) or a scrambler (a la Tarkenton). The vast majority are the former, simply because it is hard to stay healthy outside the pocket.

When Tebow joins the NFL, he has the opportunity to blur the lines. Tebow will never be a Hall of Fame quarterback, but he has the size to withstand punishment and his versatility could make him a viable dual threat. I don't think any team will use him as a starting quarterback, but having him split time (much as he did in his freshman season behind Chris Leak) and line up in a variety of positions, could pose serious matchup problems.

Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden captures the uncertainty of the Tim Tebow experiement well in a January column, writing "The NFL is fascinated with Tebow because he represents a potential evolutionary step in offensive professional football. (Emphasis here on potential because it's all a guessing game at this point.)"

Patriots mastermind Bill Belichick is rumored to be interested in Tebow, and I think that would be the most intriguing fit. Tebow is deified in college football, but will likely never be a star in the NFL. Belichick, however, is a throwback -- he has recently playcalled drop kicks and quick kicks, and many players contribute from positions on both sides of the ball -- and the team-first attitude he espouses might be the perfect remedy if Tebow falls back to earth.