Broncos WR Demaryius Thomas admits that he's not sad to see Tim Tebow go

Demaryius Thomas and Tim Tebow looked like Montana and Rice during the Broncos playoff win over the Steelers but the wide receiver said recently that Tebow's innacuracy was an ongoing issue throughout the season.

Thomas said he's not sad to see Tebow go because it was a business decision.  (Getty Images)

It's not uncommon for players to leave one team for another and have their former teammates talk about them in less than glowing terms. But Tim Tebow isn't like most players. Days after the Broncos signed Peyton Manning, Denver shipped Tebow to the Jets. 

And in the weeks since, most of the comments from current Broncos players about Tebow have been laudatory. Generally, some form of "He's a competitor, a hard worker, a swell guy, and after what we witnessed last season, we wouldn't be surprised if he ends up as the Jets' starting quarterback."

Seldom mentioned: the noodle-armed elephant in the room -- Tebow was as far from a conventional NFL quarterback as you can get and one of the worst passers in the league. (We don't mean that in the Merril Hoge diabolical sense, but strictly in terms of production.) During a recent radio appearance, Broncos wideout Demaryius Thomas admitted what everybody else already knew (but were unwilling to say, at least in Denver): Tebow wasn't particularly accurate with the ball.

"I ain’t going to say I was sad (to see Tebow go) because the only thing they remember is that pass (the game-winning 80-yard touchdown throw against Pittsburgh in the playoffs). You gotta go back and look at the rest of the games," Thomas said according to SportsRadioInterviews.com. "I wasn’t getting no balls and you had to make some of these plays where some players were open and he is not making the throws, but I don’t want to talk bad about Tim, but hey I am happy we got Peyton."

Thomas said that some of his teammates weren't as caught up in Tebowmania as the rest of the world despite the non-stop media coverage. "I felt like it was a team thing," he said. "If it wasn’t for the defense most of the time there wouldn’t be no supposed ‘Tim Tebow Time.’"

Fair point and one often mentioned when trying to explain how the Broncos went from 1-4 to division champs.

When asked how the Broncos coaching staff critiqued Tebow during film sessions, Thomas said that occasionally "...you would have people calling him out saying, ‘Tim you gotta make that throw. You gotta read the defenses better.’"

Despite all the well-worn reasons for why Tebow shouldn't be an NFL quarterback much less a starter, almost every one of his former teammates expects him to succeed in New York.

“Tim (will) go out every day and be the first one on the field and the last one off the field, in the meeting room," Thomas said. "He’s just going to have to do everything that he’s probably doing now.”

Denver linebacker Von Miller, during a Wednesday appearance on NFL Network's Total Access, added this:

"Tim is a great guy. And I think he's a better quarterback than what people give him credit for. And I think it's a mistake if you think he's just going to come in and be a wildcat quarterback. I think he's going to compete for that starting position and the Tim Tebow that I know, he's going to come in every day, he's going to work hard, he's going to be consistent and who knows, he might end up the No. 1 quarterback for the Jets at the end of the season. … Tim, he's not going to lay down for anybody."

Earlier this month, Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey warned of the dangers of underestimating Tebow. "He is gonna challenge (Sanchez), absolutely," he said. "Sanchez can't feel too comfortable in his seat. If he keeps playing well, he doesn't have to worry about it. But if he doesn't play well, we all know what's going to happen next."

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