The problems went deeper than that. From an ESPN magazine article on Tebow from May 2013:
Certainly not about a QB whose ability makes him a third-stringer, tops, and not just because of his well-chronicled throwing issues. More troubling for potential employers is that Tebow struggled badly with the mental side of the game, according to a league source. At age 7, he was diagnosed with dyslexia, a learning disability that affects how he reads and processes information, such as a playbook or game plan. Tebow won a Heisman Trophy and two BCS titles and graduated from Florida with a 3.7 GPA. But he scored a below-average (for QBs) 22 on his Wonderlic test. As a kinesthetic learner, Tebow absorbs information better through using flash cards and hands-on repetitive experience than the traditional method of memorizing diagrams, notes and Polaroids from a playbook. That doesn't mean Tebow isn't smart or that he couldn't develop into a brilliant, quick-thinking quarterback. It just hasn't happened yet.
When the Broncos defense was on the field, offensive coaches would often tell Tebow the first series of plays they wanted to run when the team got the ball back. Tebow would nod, and they'd separate. And then, invariably, a short while later he'd ask for the information again. Sometimes this ritual would repeat right up until Tebow had to duck into the huddle and call the play. As a result, despite starting only 11 games in 2011, Tebow was flagged for delay of game an NFL-high seven times. Worse still was the fact that, according to scouts, Tebow almost never audibled because he struggled to quickly and properly read defenses. And of all the deadly sins Tebow committed against quarterbacking, this was the worst: lacking the self-awareness to recognize and fix these shortcomings. Maybe the most shocking part of Tebowmania isn't that he has been cast out of the NFL after just three years but that he lasted as long as he did.
Tebow may well has worked hard on his mechanics. But according to this, that wasn't his major failing as a quarterback and Tebow has refused to recognize that.
Wonderlic is a useless holdover from a bygone era. Newsflash... Dan Marino scored a 16, think his career turned out ok. Tebow scored the same rating as Brett Favre, a 22. Ben Rothlesberger didn’t do much better with a 25.
As for the ESPN report, I would take that with a huge grain of salt as this followed his release by the Broncos, and by most accounts Elway did as much as he could to throw Tebow under the bus as he courted Manning.
Tebow didn’t audible because they were running a Read Option system, and there’s not a lot of audibling in that system. QB either fakes the handoff, makes the handoff or throws to pre-determined routes.
And I’m guessing you didn’t watch many Denver games that season as most of the delay of games were squarely on Fox who often gave play calls late in the clock. Funny, when left to his own devices and running no huddle Tebow performed just fine.
I’m not saying he’s a great QB or will ever be, but Elway made a poor decision. Manning is simply not a great big game QB. He’s 11-12 in the post season with 7 of those 12 losses being 1 and done. Even during the Colts Super Bowl post season Manning threw 3 TDs to his 7 INTs. I’m still trying to figure out how he won the Super Bowl MVP as his performance was average; that game was won by the Colts running game and Sexy Rexy throwing a 4th quarter pick six that ended the Bears hopes.
The Broncos would have been better served keeping Tebow and working on his mechanics in the off season, and drafting a QB for the future if you were unsure. That year the Broncos did draft a QB, but as an ASU Sun Devil fan I can say with no reservation, Brock Osweiller is not an NFL QB.
Ironically, Russell Wilson was available in the Broncos draft slot, but Elway went with the prototypical QB. Have fun with that.
It was said that this guy, with his "eggbeater" gait, didn't know how to run, could never win anything.