December 30, 2012, marks the final snap that was played of Tim Tebow’s career, as he was on the field for a lone special teams snap as a member of the New York Jets. At that time, having wrapped up a tumultuous NFL career saw Tebow move on to other things in life, but football has come calling again for the southpaw – this time with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Tebow signed a one-year deal with the Jaguars in a reunion with Urban Meyer, his former head coach at the University of Florida. Not only did Tebow sign on for his NFL comeback, but he will be making a transition to tight end, which will mark the first time that he will be attempting to fill that role.

The kind of reception that Tebow is getting for his return to the league is quite a mixed bag, as the former first-round selection by the Denver Broncos certainly looks to be out of his league after having gone over eight years since having laced them up. But the Jaguars are under new leadership with Meyer, and apparently, his say seems to be quite important entering into his first full season.

With Tebow’s return, there are other players that, if they decided to come out of retirement, would likely produce better and on a higher level than what Tebow will do with the Jaguars (if he even makes the final roster) – here are three of those potential options, a list that is littered with big-name retirees.

Antonio Gates

Throwing a tight end on here might seem a bit unfair since that is their natural position, but the absolute athlete that Antonio Gates was during his 16-year career compares to practically no one that has ever played that position. With the former Kent State basketball player having just retired in 2020January 20202, he could easily come back and dominate for a season or two.

Gates has the verticality and physicality to be a force in this league, hence why he earned eight Pro Bowl nods and three All-Pro nominations – eight consecutive seasons of being voted into the Pro Bowl, with the first three of those seasons also including his All-Pro wins.

While not the most mobile and speed-oriented option while in the league, Gates knew how to get open and was an absolutely fantastic option for Phillip Rivers over the years. If given the chance and willing, Gates would smoke Tebow – unfair comparison or not.

Andrew Luck

Tim Tebow's return to the league begs the question for others as well, Andrew Luck being one of them. Six seasons in the league were far too short for the talent that was Luck – and for the Indianapolis Colts, his early and unexpected retirement sent shockwaves through the organization. But if he were to decide to return, he would immediately plug in as a top 15 quarterback option, speaking to the crazy amount of natural talent that he has.

Coming out of Stanford, Luck was being touted as one of the best QBs entering the league, and alongside Robert Griffin III in that same class, there were a bunch of big-name options headed to the NFL to help lead the next revolution of signal-callers. Unfortunately, both options have not had the kinds of careers that they were expected to have, even with Griffin still being in the league.

Luck would have been a far better option if we had the choice to hand-pick a retired player to rejoin the league – welcoming back a proven entity at QB that won 53 games across six seasons and earned four Pro Bowl nods over a player that was never truly going to live up to his first-round draft capital would be the way most people would go.

Calvin Johnson

Shoutout to the Detroit Lions for being such a poorly-run organization that produced such a terrible on-field roster that made their star wide receiver Calvin Johnson retire. The fact that the game of football was robbed of more spectacular catches from Johnson is a real shame.

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Johnson left the game pretty much still in his peak, having just completed his sixth consecutive 1,000+ yard season before retiring after the 2015 season. Having been catching passes from gunslinger Matthew Stafford, Johnson was still going to be able to hold down his expected role in the offense moving forward with the Lions.

Following suit in what led to Barry Sanders deciding to retire early, Johnson took a seat from the game and retired, citing the lack of team success as a driving focus as to why he left when he did. Facing a dispute with Detroit after he retired before he finished up his eight-year contract extension signed back in 2012, Johnson was forced to pay back a portion of his signing bonus, which has led to him and the team being at odds ever since his retirement.

With Aaron Rodgers having tried to lure Johnson over to Green Bay multiple times, Johnson seems extremely content with being away from the game – but if he were to backtrack on everything that we know at this point, then he would immediately help out any team that he would join, adding what Tim Tebow could only dream of in a potential return.

NFL players returning to the league after having retired is not commonly a fruitful endeavor, but Tebow’s determination to accomplish his goals with the Jaguars certainly deserves our respect. However, he should have sat this one out.