Sports Alert: Tim Tebow Traded to Jets But Transaction Faces Possible Snag; Saints Coach Suspended for a Year

If you woke up on Wednesday think it would be a quiet day in sports as the country prepares for the NCAA tournament to resume on Thursday, you were wrong. Today, Tim Tebow was traded from the Denver Broncos to the New York Jets, and New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton has been suspended for a year.

Here's what ESPN is reporting on the Tebow trade:

Unusually quiet in recent weeks, the New York Jets shattered the calm Wednesday by completing a trade for polarizing quarterback Tim Tebow, the team confirmed.

The Jets will send a fourth-round pick to the Denver Broncos, a source said.

Tebow, a former first-round pick, went on the trading block Monday when the Broncos secured free agent Peyton Manning, who signed a five-year, $96 million contract.

Several teams expressed interest, including Tebow's hometown Jacksonville Jaguars, but the Jets -- perceived as a sleeper at the outset -- pulled off the splashiest trade of the offseason.

As for Payton, the NFL has suspended him for the entire 2012 season, and former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is banned from the league indefinitely because of the team's bounty program that targeted opposing players.

Commissioner Roger Goodell will review Williams' status after the upcoming season and consider whether he can return to the league.

Also Wednesday, Goodell suspended Saints general manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight regular-season games of 2012, and assistant coach Joe Vitt has to sit out the first six games.

In addition, the Saints are being fined $500,000 and forfeit second-round draft picks this year and in 2013.

It truly is March Madness.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

UPDATE 4:46 p.m.

ESPN is reporting that the Tebow trade may not be final just yet as the teams have encountered a hang-up in language in Tebow's contract that could nullify the trade:

"In Tebow's contract is a $6.2 million salary advance, of which $1.2 million already has been paid by Denver, sources told Schefter. The difference of $5 million is still advanced against his future salary, and that burden would shift to the Jets in a trade. The Jets, sources said, believe the Broncos should owe Tebow that money.

The trade, then, will not be finalized until the sides resolve their differences over which should pay the money coming to Tebow."

The trade has already received a significant amount of backlash from fans and commentators in New York. ESPN NY 1050's Stephen A. Smith said that the Jets decision to acquire backup quarterback Tim Tebow was "an unmitigated disaster."