Dez Bryant perplexed by Tim Tebow’s reported deal with Jaguars — and he should be

Dez Bryant knows just how hard it is to gain employment as an NFL player.

The veteran receiver spent his first eight seasons with the Dallas Cowboys as one of the best at his position, earning three Pro Bowl berths and an All-Pro nod. Then, at 29 years old, he lost his job. 

The Cowboys released Bryant in April 2018, a month into a dried-up free agency market. He didn’t find work again until November with the New Orleans Saints, halfway through the 2018 season. That job ended before his first game thanks to a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered in practice. 

He didn’t play again until week nine of the 2020 season with the Baltimore Ravens after more than two full seasons away from the league. Now he’s a free agent, looking again for work as a 32-year-old ex-Pro Bowler.

© Provided by Yahoo! Sports BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – DECEMBER 20: Wide receiver Dez Bryant #88 of the Baltimore Ravens looks on prior to the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at M&T Bank Stadium on December 20, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Will Newton/Getty Images)

So when Tim Tebow reportedly agreed to a deal with his old friend and new Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyers nine years removed from an utter failure of an NFL career, Bryant was, well … perplexed.

In case you missed it, NFL Network reported on Monday that the Jaguars are planning to sign Tebow to a one-year deal — as a tight end. Not a quarterback. He’s already tried quarterback in the NFL. It didn’t work.

As much as his horde of apologists will point to a playoff win with the Denver Broncos as proof that he belonged, his career 47.9% completion rate demonstrated that not only was Tebow a bad NFL quarterback — but that he wasn’t an NFL quarterback at all. The league collectively made that realization in 2013 when he failed to find an NFL job after his third season.

© Provided by Yahoo! Sports GLENDALE, AZ – JANUARY 11: Urban Meyer talks with Tim Tebow during the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship Game at University of Phoenix Stadium on January 11, 2016 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

But now the coach and mentor he won two college championships and a Heisman Trophy alongside is in the NFL. And Tebow has another shot in a brutally competitive league playing a position he’s never played — at 33 years old. 

It reeks of the side-show shenanigans the New York Mets employed in trotting Tebow out for four seasons of minor league baseball. Except that was minor league baseball. This is the NFL, where Tebow making a roster would mean that somebody deserving doesn’t. 

Tebow’s reported deal doesn’t guarantee him a job in the fall. He’ll have to make the roster after training camp and the preseason. But if Meyer’s willing to take the absurd step of signing Tebow, then putting him on the 53-man roster isn’t a giant leap from there. 

It’s enough to make a grinder like Bryant justifiably upset.

More from Yahoo Sports: