Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan told the Florida-Times Union there's a simple reason Tim Tebow was traded to the New York Jets rather than his hometown Jaguars:
Tebow didn't want to become a Jacksonville Jaguar.
"That would have been the worst thing for Jacksonville and the worst thing for him," Jaguars owner Shad Khan told the Times-Union at the NFL's annual league meetings. "He didn't want to come, obviously. ... Any one of the 53 players we have, have to be committed to Jacksonville, making us be the best team we are. The question was: Did he want to come? And if the decision had been taken out [of his hands] and we got him, that would not be good for him, or for us."
Khan said the Jaguars' offer was better than the one the Jets used to land Tebow. They offered the Broncos more money than the Jets, and the fourth-round draft pick Jacksonville offered was nine spots higher than the Jets'.
"It's well-thought, it's logical, we've offered more money and we have a higher draft pick," Khan said. "It's up to the player. It's not up to me. We've done everything.
"In a way, this turned out great. If he doesn't want to come, here we would have blown through a draft pick, blown through money, because cash and salary cap, you've blown through all that and we have a player who doesn't want to be there. From their viewpoint that is a far, far better alternative."
During Tebow's press conference on Monday, he said he told the Broncos that he would have been happy with either proposed trade, the one that would have sent him to New York or the one that would have made him a Jaguar.
For more on the Jets, head to Gang Green Nation, and for more on the Jets' offseason, follow SB Nation New York's StoryStream.