He's already the back-up quarterback, and there's been talk of using him as a wildcat quarterback, a red zone quarterback, and the personal protector on the punting team. On Tuesday, Mike Westhoff, the Jets special teams coach, got specific about plans to use Tebow on kickoff teams, too.
Via Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, here's how Westhoff sees Tebow contributing as a return guy:
"There are certain situations where he might be on the field that he could be utilized possibly to block or possibly to field a ball," Westhoff told the Daily News. "If a team squibs it at you or pops it at you, he might be the perfect guy to put in that could make an adjustment. If they kick it deep, he could block. If they squib it or pop it, he could be guy that we'd have with a ball in his hands."
And here's special teams assistant Ben Kotwica talking about Tim Tebow on the kickoff coverage team:
"When he's in coverage, he'll be looking to tackle the returner," Kotwica said. "And from what I've seen, I've got a pretty high degree of confidence that he would be able to do that."
Having Tebow return kicks in that capacity makes sense. He's got slick feet, and obviously has the size and strength to be a fine blocker if that was called for. Having him cover kickoffs, though? I don't see the sense in that.
I'm not saying Tebow wouldn't be good at it. I stopped doubting the man a long time ago. If someone told me he was convincing Rex Ryan to become a Jain monk, I'd believe him. But it's a thankless and dangerous job, and why the heck would any team risk their back-up quarterback in such a way?
It's the play that's so dangerous that the NFL is, according to some theories, trying to get it out of the game all together. And they're going to throw Tebow out there, putting them that much closer to having Greg McElroy as their primary back-up? The risk seems to outweigh the reward.
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