Mark Craig: Tebow is poster child of draft

This will be remembered as the 2010 Character Draft, a prime-time scrubbing of the NFL shield that was preceded by the six-game suspension of Ben Roethlisberger and highlighted by 34-year-old Broncos coach Josh McDaniels gambling his future on the belief that strong character trumps deficiencies in basic NFL skills.

In the weeks leading up to the Character Draft, we discovered that Santonio Holmes, a talented Super Bowl MVP with off-field baggage, could fetch only a fifth-round pick in a trade. On the eve of the Character Draft, we learned that even a two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback such as Roethlisberger isn't safe from the wrath of Commissioner Roger Goodell's personal conduct policy.

The first Must-See-TV Character Draft opened on a Thursday night with smiling draft picks hugging Goodell like model sons returning from war. In not so many words, TV analysts assured us these were fine young men who would work hard, cuddle with kittens and help old ladies cross the street. You know, the kind of players your daughter would feel comfortable with in the women's restroom at the local pub.

Then the 25th pick arrived and McDaniels put the signature stamp on the 2010 Character Draft with the boldest move in a wild 72-hour stretch of wheeling and dealing that saw even the Raiders get better.

With no concern for cost, McDaniels traded picks in the second, third and fourth rounds to reach for probable second-rounder and potential third-rounder Tim Tebow, a mechanically flawed quarterback with a stellar college résumé and the character of a decorated Boy Scout.

Tebow could take years to develop. He might never make the transition to pro quarterback. Heck, he could become the first NFL mascot chosen 25th overall. After all, the NFL currently is too quick for his release and too strong to be bulldozed by his spread running style.

It will take time to determine whether McDaniels is misguided or smarter than most. He sure looks misguided. Then again, his mentor, Bill Belichick, seemed misguided before proving that he's just smarter than we are.

He traded moody 25-year-old Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler last year after a month-long spat. He dumped Brandon Marshall, a 26-year-old Pro Bowl receiver and pouty pain in the neck, after a year-long brawl.

He then used the second-round pick that he got for Marshall in the trade that netted Tebow.

McDaniels also traded up to No. 22 overall and selected Georgia Tech receiver Demaryius Thomas, a project with strong character, rather than Dez Bryant, a better receiver with character concerns.

Nobody's 2010 draft will be monitored more closely than Denver's, mostly because no player in NFL history has divided public and expert opinion the way Tebow has since February. Super Bowl-winning coach Jon Gruden gushed praise numerous times. An inebriated Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was secretly recorded saying Tebow would never play in the NFL. Everyone, it seemed, had a strong opinion one way or the other.

"He has all the traits you look for," McDaniels said.

"It's a good pick," McDaniels insisted. "There are a lot of things he has that you can't coach. And the things that we would like to improve and tweak relative to his game, those are the things you can coach."

At best, that seems like a risky proposition at No. 25 overall. But McDaniels is the proverbial quarterback guru who made Matt Cassell an 11-game winner in 2008 and a filthy rich in 2009.

Tebow is rawer than anybody McDaniels has worked with in the NFL. But he's also the smiling face of the 2010 Character Draft, for what that's worth.