Tim Tebow, the NFL's most popular free agent, reportedly is interested in playing two games for a Russian football team. While Tebow apparently ponders the team's $1 million offer, Jacksonville Jaguar fans are holding a "Jags-Tebow Why Not?" rally on Monday to convince the Jaguars' front office to sign quarterback.
The Moscow Black Storm, an American Football Championship of Russia team, are offering Tebow $1 million to play in the team's semifinal match and, if the team advances, the championship. "Russia Beyond The Headlines" reported the offer by the Black Storm's owner, Mikhail Zaltsman.
"We have offered him $1 million for two games," Zaltsman told RBTH. "I talked with him personally and he wanted to go."
While Tebow is interested, at least according to Zaltsman, the quarterback's agents are standing in the way.
"They're thinking of using him as a motivational speaker," said Zaltsman. "They don't want him to play football."
The accuracy of the report, however, is uncertain. "...There doesn't appear to be a web page for the Russian football tournament, and a site for a similar league hasn't been updated since 2012," the Huffington Post wrote on Monday.
Tebow has said he's intent on playing in the NFL as a quarterback, and a faction of Jaguar fans are equally intent on seeing him do it in Jacksonville.
The band of Tebow devotees are rallying behind the banner, "Jags-Tebow Why Not?" Deadspin reported on the group's website, which calls for like-minded Tebow fans to assemble in the EverBank Field parking lot for a rally to convince the Jaguars' brass to sign Tebow.
Per the group's site, caps and all: "TAKE ACTION NOW. JOIN US! OUR MISSION: MAKE IT CLEAR, WE THE FANS, WANT THE JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS TO BRING IN TIM TEBOW. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO SEE THIS HAPPEN. SO CALL OR TEXT 904 214-4855 AND ASK HOW YOU CAN HELP."
The rally, set for Monday at 3:16 p.m., will last exactly three hours and 16 minutes. During that time, the organizers hope to sway the team to sign Tebow because, as their web site proclaims, "when you have nothing, you have nothing to lose."
It's not an entirely untrue slogan: the Jaguars fell to 0-2 on Sunday, and neither Blaine Gabbert nor Chad Henne appear to be the franchise's answer at quarterback.
