If Tim Tebow eventually changes his mind and wants to resurrect his pro football career north of the border, it won’t be with the Alouettes.
Sportsnet has learned that new Montreal general manager Kavis Reed dropped Tim Tebow off the team’s "confidential" negotiation list this week, just days after taking the top job with the Als.
Tebow had been one of the longest standing players on any team neg list league-wide, having been added by previous Alouettes GM Jim Popp back on Sept. 20, 2012.
A well-placed source told Sportsnet that no other team has since picked up Tebow’s CFL rights.
The move by Montreal is not surprising. Just days after his 29th birthday in August, Tebow announced he would be changing sports, auditioning to play pro baseball. He was signed by the New York Mets – while still managing broadcast duties with the SEC Network – and had a quiet run in the Arizona Fall League. Tebow hit .194 in 19 games (12-for-62, eight walks, 20 strikeouts). Mets general manager Sandy Alderson told reporters last month that he hopes Tebow will compete for a spot in the organization’s Class-A minor league team next season.
Tebow was a Popp pet project, just like so many others have over the years – the latest being former Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith, who started six games in Montreal before being released in 2014.
Fellow Heisman winner Johnny Manziel’s CFL rights remain with Hamilton, the Tiger-Cats having added – and kept – him since Sept. 2012. As Justin Dunk first reported, 2016 Heisman winner Lamar Jackson is on the B.C. Lions neg list. Sources also told Sportsnet that Jalen Hurts, the phenom Alabama freshman quarterback, was added to the Lions neg list in October.
Each CFL team has 45 players on their negotiation list, which the league puzzlingly keeps confidential to its fan base. With Reed now running the football operations in Montreal, it is expected that the Alouettes will have many upcoming moves to their list of prospects. By comparison, 44 of the 45 names on the Saskatchewan negotiation list changed after Chris Jones was hired as the Riders head coach and GM last year.
