Tim Tebow clings to faith after Jets cut him loose

By now, Tim Tebow is feeling the words of Jim Croce’s song, “New York’s Not My Home,” deep in his bones.

Though all the streets are crowded There’s somethin’ strange about it I lived there ’bout a year and I never once felt at home I thought I’d make the big time I learned a lot of lessons awful quick And now I’m tellin’ you That they were not the nice kind And it’s been so long since I have felt fine, that’s the reason

That I gotta get out of here I’m so alone Don’t you know that I gotta get out of here ’Cause New York’s not my home

Monday morning when Tebow showed up at the New York Jets’ facility to work out, the team waived him, putting an end to the constant questions about his uncertain role and leaving the Christian quarterback to wonder what’s left of his NFL career.

“Unfortunately,” coach Rex Ryan said in a three-paragraph news release issued by the team, “things did not work out the way we all had hoped.” The cut came at the end of an embarrassingly unsuccessful one-season experiment in New York that generated more fanfare in the headlines than on the field. It also left Tebow’s football future very much in doubt.

“If he were to happen to call me, I would say, ‘Look, you’re starting over,’” former NFL general manager Ted Sundquist said. “Tim Tebow needs to redefine who Tim Tebow is, in my opinion. He’s no longer a first-round quarterback.”

That’s quite a blow for a player who came to the Big Apple in March 2012, welcomed by billboards and enthusiastic supporters in the city. He also had a large following because of his strong faith—the inspiration behind the ‘Tebowing’ craze. To most, including Tebow, the move seemed like a work of God—and perhaps it was, but not in the way they had hoped.

At the end of last season, Tebow said, “I think it’s fair to say that I’m a little disappointed.”

Just a year after he threw a touchdown pass to win a playoff game in overtime for Denver, the Heisman Trophy winner with two national championships at the University of Florida and a nationwide following may have suited up for the last time.

“I don’t see any team giving him a chance because teams don’t want to deal with the following that comes with Tebow,” ESPN analyst and former NFL offensive lineman Damien Woody said. “Maybe Canada.”

No NFL team has made a pitch to get him. The only nibble so far came from the Montreal Alouettes. They hold his rights in the Canadian Football League and said he could come compete for a job—as a backup.

A few hours after receiving perhaps the biggest blow of his life, Tebow took to Twitter, once again acknowledging the One who gives him strength. “Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding,” Tebow wrote, “in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.