Tim Tebow Ripped By Jets Coach Rex Ryan Two Years After Leaving Team

Tim Tebow is now close to two years removed from his disastrous tenure with the New York Jets, but outspoken coach Rex Ryan apparently still harbors some bad feelings about his tenure with the team.

The Jets coach this week made an unprompted shot against Tebow, who was on the Jets roster for the 2012 season but rarely saw the field.

When asked if Eric Decker could become a No. 1 receiver for the Jets, Ryan decided to dodge the question and take a shot at Tim Tebow instead.

“[Decker] did catch eight touchdown passes when [Tim] Tebow was the quarterback,” Ryan said about Tebow’s season as starter with the Denver Broncos in 2011, via Newsday. “Hey, that’s pretty impressive.”

The interesting part was not just the odd insult to Tebow, but the fact that Rex Ryan got the stat completely wrong. Tebow took over at the midseason point in 2011, Decker’s second season in the league. While Decker did catch eight touchdowns that year with the Broncos, Tim Tebow only threw four of them (plus another to Decker in the 2010 finale, Decker’s only touchdown his rookie year).

Ryan made it clear in 2011 that he had no use for Tim Tebow and didn’t particularly want him on the team. Tebow was relegated to punt protector duties and saw only very scattered playing time on offense. Late in the year, when starter Mark Sanchez went down with an injury, Ryan decided to start rookie Greg McElroy instead.

After spending the entire 2013 season waiting for a call from a team, Tim Tebow appears to be finished with the NFL. He had a chance to make the New England Patriots roster but was cut just before the season.

Some believed there could be hope that Tebow would get picked up by his hometown Jacksonville Jaguars, but after the team opted to draft fellow local product Blake Bortles from the University of Central Florida, those dreams were likely dashed.

Still, it seems Tebow is content in the new phase of his career as a SEC Network analyst. Tebow has also formed a partnership with the Duck Dynasty family to produce a Christian miniseries.

Tebow said his faith is his true calling.

“I’ve never found my identity in who I was as a football player. I found my identity in who I am in Christ. And when you find your identity as a Christian, then regardless of your status, or your fame, or your popularity, or your position, that never changes. So the roller-coaster that the world has always looked at my life and viewed, I’m very thankful that I don’t have to live it. I’m the best now that I’ve ever been.”

So it’s likely that Tim Tebow is turning the other cheek when it comes to Rex Ryan.