Browns: Cleveland should’ve considered Tim Tebow in 2012

The Browns should’ve tried to acquire Tim Tebow in 2012.

Brandon Weedon, Thaddeus Lewis, Colt McCoy, Josh Johnson, Jason Campbell, Brian Hoyer, Spencer Lanning. These are the names that played quarterback for the Browns in 2012 and 2013. Of those names, Weedon, Lewis, McCoy, Campbell, and Hoyer, played significant minutes. Only one, Lewis, completed over 60% of his passes. Granted, it was just one game, but still. So considering the Browns had five quarterbacks, four of whom could break 60%, there was no reason not to go get Tim Tebow.

Thanks to Jacksonville, Tim Tebow is again worth talking about.

With a different change in philosophy and a different set of principles, the Browns may have been pretty unique to watch. The problem is the NFL is a copycat league and visionaries are often ignored. Guys who see more than other coaches are considered crazy until their schemes work. Think the Wildcat formation. People thought it was mad until it worked for the Miami Dolphins.

Imagine if the Browns had an architect. Someone unafraid to be different in a league for uniformity is the way, and the spice of life is flour. That’s where Tebow fits into the fray.

The Browns sucked for seven more years, so why not sign Tim Tebow?

With the power of hindsight, it’d be another seven years before the Browns find a franchise guy (and some fans still aren’t satisifed). During that time, the Browns have explored and tried out dozens of quarterbacks. None were Tebow.

Now the biggest knock on Tebow was his accuracy. Fair, he has a career 47.9% for his completions. Not good. For comparison, Cam Newton through 2016 was just at 58% for his career and was coming off of a season of 52%. Michael Vick was at 53.8% for his career when he left Atlanta. Accuracy is good but for players like Tebow, Newton, and Vick, they weren’t the only thing that made them dangerous.

Tebow was the first bruising rush to play quarterback. His size, speed, and ability to make plays happen made him a problem. Building an offense, much like the Baltimore Ravens have done with Lamar Jackson, around Tebow would’ve worked. To some degree.

Maybe the Browns don’t work with Tebow, maybe Tebow’s 7-4 record in Denver was no fluke, and despite his poor accuracy, he becomes some sort of franchise play-maker who can actually get the job done. It’s more than likely that Tebow would’ve struggled in Cleveland, and the Browns would’ve gone nowhere with him, but they went nowhere with about a dozen more quarterbacks instead of him, so what? DeShone Kizer was a better option than Tebow?

Maybe, but unlikely. Tebow had a knack for winning, and that’s something not many Cleveland quarterbacks after Tim Couch and before Baker Mayfield could say. If nothing else, at least it would’ve been entertaining.