Tim Tebow has been training over the past 18 months

After he was cut by New England just before the 2013 regular season, 18 months ago, Tebow went to meet with Tom House on the advice of Tom Brady. House, who pitched eight years in the big leagues and also served as an assistant baseball coach at USC, runs a business tutoring "rotational" athletes on mechanics. It's attracted a host of NFL quarterbacks, including Brady himself and Drew Brees.

SNIP

Over the last 18 months, the mechanics coach estimates that -- around his work as a college football analyst at ESPN -- Tebow averaged about two trips from Florida to California every four weeks, and they spent about two days per week working together during that time. That represents a massive undertaking, considering Tebow has a full-time job and also was working with a conditioning coach in Arizona.

The key, in House's view, was reps, applying a theory from Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers." Along those lines, House's belief is it takes 1,000 reps to alter a bad habit, and 10,000 for the changes to become, to use his word, "autonomic."

House says Tebow has logged those 10,000 reps -- and then some -- now. "Our part is really easy," House said. "We helped his throwing. When he was released by the Patriots, because of Tom Brady, he came to us. ... He had trouble spinning the ball and he wasn't very accurate. We didn't do much conditioning or route trees or run many defenses against him. We honestly felt we could help him with his throwing, like everyone else, but this time, he got enough reps where the change was made."

FULL STORY: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000479589/article/tim-tebow-still-training-for-nfl-rebirth-despite-long-odds

I am not defending Tebow's past performances. And I don't care whether he makes it in the NFL or not. But when someone makes an effort like this you have to respect it. And the Eagles' decision. The logic escaped me until I found this article.

BTW, they said they addressed mechanics and improved his throwing -- did that include footwork? That's a QB biggie. And if Tebow can't improve pocket presence and routes/reads in practice, this might just as well be moot.