The Jets’ trade for Tim Tebow might have hit a snag, league sources told NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi.

The Broncos are attempting to recoup $5 million paid out on Tebow’s original rookie contract, but money typically isn’t exchanged in this way in trades like this. No team would ever agree to a deal like this, because it would be too complicated, according to Lombardi.

But, according to NFL.com’s Jeff Darlington, Broncos sources contend there’s no reason for the Jets to be able to back away from their decision to trade for Tebow. The Jets agreed to the trade, even announcing it on their official Twitter page, a source said. It’s their problem — not the Broncos’ — that the Jets failed to review the language of Tebow’s contract before agreeing to the trade.

Several other teams, the sources contend, were unwilling to make the trade knowing they’d have to pay nearly $5 million to the Broncos, per the language of Tebow’s original contract. The fact that the Jets didn’t do this, a source says, isn’t the Broncos’ fault.

Though the Jets announced the trade, a league source told NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora that no trade papers were filed with the NFL on this deal, so there never was a fully valid trade.

Dialogue is ongoing between the Jets and Broncos, but from a legal standpoint, the trade never was registered with the NFL.

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