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Tim Tebow is slightly less marketable than Oprah, but is a slightly better quarterback

MJD

To NFL teams, he's worth about a fourth-round draft pick. To the marketing world, he's worth more than all but three people on the planet.

That's according to something called the Davie-Brown Index, which I can only assume is run by Bob Davie and Troy Brown. It measures celebrities in eight categories, including trust, sincerity, appeal, influence and other things that I have no idea how they measure. By their calculations, Tim Tebow ranks fourth in the world.

Here are some more details from the NY Daily News:

Thanks in part to the blanket media coverage since getting tapped by the Jets — including three days on the front page of the Daily News — Tebow trails only Oprah Winfrey, Adele and Kate Middleton as the personality who would most effectively shill your product.

[...]

Under their formula, Tebow scored a 180. Mark Sanchez, who's rumored to have a fragile ego, garnered just 12 points. Ouch.

Tebow moved up from the 40th spot he got last December and now ranks higher than Will Smith, Bill Gates, Hank Aaron, Tom Hanks and Jack Nicklaus.

This is the guy who will back up Mark Sanchez. This is the guy for whom the Jets wouldn't give much more than a fourth-round draft pick. This is a guy with a completion percentage eight points lower than Curtis Painter. Curtis Painter.

[ Related: Mark Sanchez says Tim Tebow is 'still the same guy' he hosted at USC ]

And yet, he's almost as marketable as the unofficial queen of The United States, a nearly universally beloved artist with a world class voice, and smokin' hot actual royalty. We have truly done something special here, America.

Say what you want about Tebow (we do mention him from time to time here on Shutdown Corner), but that's an accomplishment. To be that magnetic and believable, despite not being anywhere near the class of quarterback as Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady or Drew Brees, is incredible. I don't know if it's an actual skill, but it's something. I don't see David Carr on this list, John Mara.

I'll be curious to see if Tebow's still there after the 2012 season.

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