Tim Tebow has returned to the NFL.

After being released from the Eagles roster in 2015, then spending four years in the Met’s minor league organization, the Jacksonville Jaguars signed Tebow on a one-year contract as a tight end. This unforeseen return begs many questions, first being, how did it even come about?

No matter the team or sport, Tebow has always provided a spark that lights his team on fire, which was something the Jaguars needed. Even as they brought in Trevor Lawerence with the first pick in the draft, they needed another “fan favorite” that could help sell tickets. Tim Tebow was the ideal candidate. From this perspective, it seems that the Jaguars never intended for him to get any reps and why would they, he’s 6 years removed from his last starting job in the NFL. This is where comparisons to Colin Kapernick have originated. 

While it may seem that Tebow and Kaepernick share comparable experiences, they don’t. Kaepernick was an African-American starting quarterback who was then blacklisted by NFL coaches and stripped of his job for opposing police brutality. Tebow was a white quarterback who had lost his starting roster spot due to poor play but then promptly given a top position in the lucrative world of sports media. 

I’m not saying Tebow doesn’t deserve a spot on a roster.If still he’s talented enough to attract teams and make them invest in his talent, then he deserves to be in the NFL. I am saying, however, if you were to look back at Tebow’s deteriorating level of play shortly before he exited the NFL and compare it with Kaepernick’s high level of play before he was thrust out of the NFL, you cannot, in good faith, say that Kaepernick doesn’t deserve a roster spot right along with Tebow. 

Tebow’s return to the NFL has created more conversations regarding the role of white privilege in today’s sports world, but I don’t think that’s the problem here. It’s the fact that African-American athletes cannot speak on the injustices they themselves have faced without facing severe backlash from teams, fans, coaches and leagues. 

Back in 2016, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah did a segment on Colin Kaepernick’s situation in which they elucidated the restrictions African Americans face when trying to protest police brutality. 

“It’s wrong to do in the streets, its wrong to do it in the tweets, you cannot do it in the field, you cannot do it if you’re kneeled, and don’t do it if your rich, you ungrateful son of a b—-, because there is one thing that’s a fact, you cannot protest if you’re black.”

Kaepernick’s departure from the NFL was due not only to his protests and  kneeling, but because of his skin color. On the other side, Tebow’s effortless and trouble-free return to the NFL was not just because of his playmaking or celebrity status. It, too, was because of his skin color.