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Tim Tebow may have been a victim of his own limited success. Without his great run in the second half of the season and his shocking first round victory in the playoffs, there is little chance that Peyton Manning would have come to the Denver Broncos. 

No way Mannning chooses to come to a Broncos team that finishes the season 6-10 or thereabouts. As his thank you gift for getting the Broncos to the AFC Divisional playoff round, Tebow gets a first-class ticket out of town. Don’t let the door hit you, Tim. 

John Elway should send Jim Irsay a thank you gift. Without Manning available, the Broncos would have been saddled with Tebow for a few more years to come. But the Broncos had a chance to get one of the 10 best quarterbacks of all time. When that chance becomes available, you have to take the legendary quarterback. And even diehard Tebow fans know this. This isn’t Johnny Unitas going to the Los Angeles Rams at the end of his career. Manning, barring further injury, still has several good years left in him. 

There is no question that Manning makes sense in Denver. Now the question is where does Tebow make the most sense?

The biggest question behind who signs Tebow will be whether the football people or owner is making the decision on Tebow. Just ask John Elway. Some owners will make the Tebow decision based on jersey and ticket sales, while others will make the decision based primarily for football reasons. Those who make the decision for the latter reason will be most satisfied, though they may have questionable judgment.

If you are Jacksonville, a team that spent a first round pick on a quarterback last year, and you go after Tebow purely to make your fans happy, you are bringing in a ton of discord in your locker room. You are telling your players you lack confidence in them and want to sell tickets and appease fans. Same thing in Miami, where you have two quarterbacks who are better passers than Tebow, though smaller names.

The New York Jets have said they are interested in Tebow, but bringing the biggest soap opera (or is televangelist program?) to the world’s biggest media market to play back-up quarterback to a guy whom fans and media don’t fully believe in could create an entire new set of problems. It seems more than anything the Jets need stability. Bringing in Tebow to back-up Mark Sanchez would not accomplish that, though it may clean up the team’s image in the wake of all of the Rex Ryan nonsense over the past few years. But New York fans don’t care about a squeaky clean image, they care about winning.

The best place for Tebow may be down the road from the Jets in Philadelphia. Talk about throwing the Christian to the lions. The Eagles fans are notoriously the ugliest in sports, but if a player can shake off the criticism, maybe it would be Tebow. And he wouldn’t need to be a starter. Michael Vick has the money and the confidence of coaches and fans to start, but it seems a given at some point he will take a beating and need a few games rest (if not more). 

Reid’s west coast offense, with its short routes and opportunities for Tebow to run out of the pocket the way Vick does, could fit Tebow’s style well. And they could even bring Tebow in in certain rushing situations to save Vick’s body. And if anyone could use an image rehab in the league, it would be the Eagles and Vick.

The Eagles can’t bet on solely riding Vick’s aging body to a title. They need some toughness and maybe a little bit of divine intervention just to win their division. Tebow could bring a little bit of both.