Tim Tebow Released by Jets, Ending Year-Long Circus in New York

Tim Tebow has been released from the New York Jets after just one season with the team, after rumors swirled for months that the quarterback was never wanted in the first place.

Tebow, a former Heisman winner, was picked up by the Jets in March 2012, but never lived up to the fanfare of his arrival. He failed to unseat starter Mark Sanchez and played in just 6.8 percent of the Jets' offensive snaps, according to official play-time documents.

On Friday, the Jets made it clear that they were going in another direction by taking West Virginia’s Geno Smith in the second round of the NFL draft.

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"We have a great deal of respect for Tim Tebow," Jets Coach Rex Ryan said in a statement. "Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we all had hoped. Tim is an extremely hard worker, evident by the shape he came back in this offseason. We wish him the best moving forward."

A January ESPN story got the rumor mill churning when it was reported that the Tebow trade was "forced" on the Jets by organization president Neil Glat, possibly as a publicity stunt.

Now, because Tebow is not considered a veteran, he will be subject to waivers. Tebow has two seasons at base salaries of $1.055 million in 2013 and $895,000 in 2014, with large but likely unattainable base salary escalators available in the second season, according to Yahoo Sports. Tebow will likely pass through waivers, at which point he will become a free agent and he and his agent, Jimmy Sexton of CAA Football, can find the best football fit.

The Vatican has reportedly had its eyes on the openly religious Tebow. According to the Catholic News Service, the Vatican is reaching out to high-profile Christian athletes, including Tebow and Houston Rockets' Point Guard Jeremy Lin, another devout evangelical Christian, in an attempt to reintroduce ethical values to the scandal-ridden world of sports through a proposed Faith Conference.

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"We want to work with the big sports bodies to give new value to sports," Monsignor Melchor Sanchez de Toca Alameda told CNS in a Jan. 16 interview. "First: to help put healthy values back into sport and counteract the current market logic, because if the current state of affairs continues, all is lost. Second: to help the church see sport as an important resource for future priests, Catholic schools, parishes, and catechists."

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