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Diego Pavia, Shedeur Sanders and an NFL QB problem that goes back to Tim Tebow
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- Diego Pavia, Shedeur Sanders and an NFL QB problem that goes back to Tim Tebow
Diego Pavia, Shedeur Sanders and an NFL QB problem that goes back to Tim Tebow originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
To understand Diego Pavia going undrafted, and even to understand Shedeur Sanders ' NFL Draft slide to the fifth round a year ago, you have to understand Tim Tebow .
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No, that's not the link most people will make here. Pavia and Sanders don't necessarily remind many people of Tebow.
And yes, Tebow was a first-round pick, but this isn't about the drafted Tebow. This is about the mid-career Tebow.
After Tebow's ascension to rapid playoff hero for the Denver Broncos , his journey never really took off.
Instead, he became a guy that teams didn't really want to sign.
Why? Because if he was going to be the backup QB, that was a heck of a lot of attention to have on a guy who wouldn't even be on the field.
"Why isn't Tim starting? Will Tim get a chance? Hey starting quarterback, what do you think of Tim as a backup?"
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And therein lies the problem.
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NFL teams don't want a backup QB who takes up all the attention. It doesn't matter the reasons that the focus is drawn to them, but simply that it is.
Sanders was going to be a major story no matter who drafted him or with what pick. Once his slide began, it took on even more notoriety.
The Browns finally gave him a chance, and he even started games, but still -- every Cleveland QB update this offseason is about him, even if it seems likely that Deshaun Watson beats him out this summer.
And even if Sanders goes back to the bench, you know all the questions will be about him.
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Pavia isn't in the same stratosphere as Sanders or Tebow, but he's this draft's equivalent, and because he's short, he comes with more actual football concerns.
So once no one had enough belief in him to pick him as a potential down-the-road starter, he slid, and he slid, and he fell right out of the draft entirely.
Now, a team deciding to sign him is bringing along all the attention that move will bring.
Is that worth it for a player many project at best as a backup? Many teams will decide, just like with Sanders and Tebow, that it's not.
Maybe some of it is Pavia's fault, but some of it isn't. It's just how this works, and it won't be the last time a QB finds themselves with this conundrum. It happened to Tebow, it will probably keep happening to Sanders, and Pavia is just the latest example.
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