Urban Meyer on Tim Tebow’s chances of making Jaguars: ‘This is gonna be very difficult’

Urban Meyer is approaching a difficult decision in regard to Tim Tebow and the Jaguars’ roster.

The Jaguars coach, appearing on the “Rich Eisen Show” on Thursday, provided an update on the quarterback-turned-tight end’s chances of making the team’s final 55-man roster. As it stands now, Meyer understands his former signal-caller at Florida has work to do to make the successful transition.

“What’s the percentage of making the team? We don’t know, this is uncharted water, this is gonna be very difficult, but he’s been doing great,” Meyer told Eisen. “He’s been doing great in practice, he’s learning the offense as you can imagine. He’s working as hard as anybody. I see a good camaraderie amongst the team and Tim, and it’s been good so far.”

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Tebow, who has not been associated with an NFL team since he was with the Eagles in 2015, was described as “awkward” in his first practice with the Jaguars on May 28. That’s certainly not ideal for someone hoping to make an NFL roster, and whose only previous NFL target hit him in the head. That’s true even for the Jaguars, who have had notable issues at the position.

Meyer again reiterated that his bringing Tebow onto the team for a tryout has been as objective as possible, noting that he left Tebow’s initial workout so he could get an unbiased opinion from general manager Trent Baalke, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and tight end coach Tyler Bowen.

“I’m on his foundation board,” Meyer said. “I know Tim, we talk. I knew he was getting ready to go play pro baseball. He mentioned to me that, ‘I’m in the best shape of my life,’ and you can tell he is. And we had a chat, and he said, ‘Well, could you have a couple guys look at me?’ And I said, obviously, let me think this thing through … if it’s confidential, yeah I’ll let some guys look at you, and I showed up, and I left on purpose.

“Our GM was there, our tight end coach and our offensive coordinator were there, and they put him through a workout, and they came back to me and said, ‘My gosh, this guy’s in incredible shape. He’s a big athlete. Our tight end room has been struggling.’ … They gave him some things to work on, and then they brought him back, and they came to me and said I think we should give him a shot.'”