Tim Tebow's road back to the NFL wasn't expected to be easy, and the fact that he has gotten as far as he has — at a different position than the one he played when he first entered the league, no less — is fairly impressive. But it doesn't look like it's going to get any easier once the Jaguars need to ultimately trim their roster down to 53 players, especially after the team released their unofficial depth chart on Wednesday.
Leading the tight end department is Chris Manhertz, the five-year veteran who has spent the majority of his career with the Panthers but who only has 142 receiving yards to his name. James O'Shaughnessy, listed as the backup, recorded 262 yards for the Jags last season and has already hooked up a couple of times with Trevor Lawrence in the early goings of training camp.
Tebow isn't listed in the third TE slot, either, as that honor went to Luke Farrell. And though there's a chance Tebow can take the TE4 label — one which may or may not make the 53-man roster when it's all said and done — he still has to duke it out with Ben Ellefson and Tyler Davis in order to do so.
There are other interesting questions throughout the depth chart, as Cole Pepper of News4Jax noted, including the pressing issue that No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence has not yet been declared the starter over Gardner Minshew. But while that's intriguing and exponentially more significant, that fourth-string tight end battle sure is a barnburner that we'll be looking forward to as it unfolds. What type of comeback story would it be if Tebow didn't make the team after all? I'll tell you what type: a disappointing one.
He's got time though, and he's got the good word of some coaches on the staff. Jaguars passing game coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, for one, said that Tebow sees the game like a quarterback and that helps him out in his quest to effectively play at the tight end position (h/t Chris Rosvoglou of The Spun). Will that IQ and experience be enough to propel him up the roster with some strong showings in the coming weeks? That remains to be seen.
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