Ad Disclosure
On Monday, former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow will make the transition to his new career: minor league baseball player.
The newest member of the New York Mets farm system will begin instructional ball in Port St. Lucie, Fla. on Sept. 19. It’s the first time Tebow will have played competitive baseball since his junior year in high school…12 years ago.
The controversial figure was a first-round NFL Draft choice after a decorated career at Florida, and led the Denver Broncos to a playoff win against a Ben Roethlisberger-led Steelers squad. He also had a short three-year career in the NFL before moving on to other endeavors.
While many believe he simply wasn’t good enough for the professional ranks — hence hastening his departure from the NFL — Tebow has recently offered a new reason: concussion concerns.
Via a report from The Washington Post, Tebow opened up about his own history with concussions, and how it may have impacted his future:
“Was it a factor? Absolutely. Especially for all the opportunities that I had to play different positions – which I was honored to have – and I didn’t choose those primarily because of injuries or concussions. I chose that because I love playing the quarterback position. And obviously, you could see that when I played, I wasn’t necessarily the most-worried about injuries the way I played, always going head-first. I think there’s definitely a piece that, this is for real. Concussions are real. One day, do I want to have grandkids and be able to hang with them and go play ball and play catch with them? Absolutely. So is that something that’s in the back of your mind? Yeah.”
