Larry Brown Sports

Did the New England Patriots’ official website hint at the upcoming signing of Tim Tebow? If it didn’t, then there sure was a big coincidence on the site over the weekend.

Since Sept. 2011, the Patriots’ website has been running a weekly sponsored story and accompanying poll by Samsonite called, “Samsonite make your case.” The story generally poses a question for debate and encourages readers to vote in the poll.

On Friday, the topic for the story was, “Tim Tebow to New England?”

The story was written by Patriots Football Weekly, which seems to provide content for the site, and the poll question being asked was, “Will Tim Tebow ever play for the Patriots?”

Right around the time the news emerged that the Pats were going to sign Tebow, 53.74 percent voted yes in the poll while 46.26 percent said no.

The story was on the Patriots’ site as a billboard all weekend. It was being featured on the site at the time the news of the signing broke.

[Related: Tebow could play tight end in addition to quarterback]

If you’re into conspiracy theories, you can say the Patriots tested the idea of signing Tebow among their fans ahead of time. If not, you can just figure the PFW staff decided on that topic since the question of Belichick hating Tebow reemerged last week.

Either way, it was one heck of a coincidence that that story was running on the site the day news came out that the team was going to sign Tebow.

H/T Ben Volin

Tim Tebow reportedly will sign with the New England Patriots and report to the team’s minicamp on Tuesday. Call us crazy, but we don’t anticipate the former Heisman Trophy winner will take the starting quarterback job from Tom Brady.

So, what kind of role will Tebow have on New England if the QB spot is occupied by a future Hall of Famer? He probably will work as much more than just a quarterback.

ESPN’s Ed Werder, who first reported news of the signing, said on SportsCenter that Tebow signed with the Pats with the intention of playing quarterback. Werder says Tebow does not want to change positions, not even for New England. He says the move was made for Tebow to continue developing as a quarterback, especially by working with Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. However, Werder does think Tebow could be active on gamedays if he plays special teams and learns tight end.

CBS Sports’ Mike Freeman says he has heard the plan is for Tebow to “study a great deal at tight end.” CBS’ Jason La Canfora shares similar thoughts. He says “Belichick will find creative ways” to use Tebow, and that if Tebow is active on gamedays, it will likely be in a hybrid role.

Also keep in mind that tight end Rob Gronkowski is recovering from back and forearm surgeries and might not be ready when the season begins.

The Patriots are an extremely creative team on offense. They will spread out defenses with several receivers. They frequently use multiple tight end sets (especially when Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez are both healthy). And they also mix up their backs, whether it’s power guys like BenJarvus Green-Ellis in the past (and LeGarrette Blount in the future) or scat backs like Danny Woodhead in the past (and Leon Washington in the future).

Here’s the thing: we’re not expecting Tebow to be a full-time quarterback or tight end. He may play some quarterback, he may play wildcat QB in some packages, he may play special teams, and he may take carries as a fullback or catch passes as a tight end. Tebow is a legitimate weapon in short-yardage situations, and he is a good player to have for special teams. The Patriots will be wise to use Tebow in those roles in order to take advantage of his strengths.

Apparently Bill Belichick wasn’t lying when he said the report that he hated Tim Tebow was untrue and baseless. How do we know? Because ESPN’s Ed Werder reports that the New England Patriots are signing Tebow and expect him to be in camp on Tuesday.

Werder says that Belichick “has always spoken of Tebow with admiration.” Werder also notes that the move reunites Tebow with Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who traded up to draft the Heisman Trophy winner when he was the head coach of the Denver Broncos in 2010.

The Patriots reportedly have already released quarterback Mike Kafka to make room for Tebow on the roster.

Tebow’s last start as a quarterback came in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs when his Broncos were spanked by the Pats 45-10. Tebow led the Broncos to the AFC West title that season after taking over as the team’s starting quarterback midseason. The Broncos went 7-4 with Tebow as the starter, and they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild card round of the playoffs before losing to the Pats.

Belichick is close with Urban Meyer, who was Tebow’s college coach at Florida. Belichick has always spoke highly of Tebow’s character and work ethic. Now he gets to have him on his team.

One upcoming change for Tebow will deal with his number. Backup quarterback Ryan Mallett wears jersey No. 15, so Tebow might have to pick a new one.

Another fun note to this story is that the Patriots play the Jets on Thursday Sept. 2 to kick off Week 2. The Jets acquired Tebow in a trade last year, but they hardly used him and ultimately released him after the season.

Not long after Tim Tebow was released by the New York Jets, there was some speculation that the New England Patriots could be interested in signing him. Patriots coach Bill Belichick has been complimentary of Tebow in the past, and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels traded up to draft Tebow when he was head coach of the Denver Broncos.

Based on those two items, it made sense to figure the Pats could be interested in Tebow. But Yahoo! Sports’ Michael Silver quickly killed all the speculation by reporting that “organizational sources” say the Patriots coach “hates” Tebow as a player. Belichick says it is inaccurate to say that he hates Tebow and the possibility of signing him.

Belichick was reached by ESPN Boston’s Field Yates and denied that is how he feels about Tebow.

“I wouldn’t get into the probability of us pursuing any free agent,” Belichick told Yates. “Every single player has strengths and weaknesses but regardless of that, for anyone to have represented that is the way I feel about Tim Tebow is completely untrue, baseless and irresponsible. It is unfortunate that something so inaccurate was reported.”

If Yates solely asked Belichick to respond to the report that he “hates” Tebow, then he wasn’t asking the proper question. Silver’s report says Belichick hates Tebow as a player, not as a person. Those are two different questions to ask.

And while “hate” is a very strong word, and maybe too strong of a word for the situation, I’m guessing Belichick really isn’t too interested in signing Tebow, regardless of what he says. It seems like most NFL teams aren’t too interested in signing Tebow.

Helmet smack to Pro Football Talk

What would you do if you were all geared up to hang a brand new Tom Brady Fathead in your office and Fathead got your order wrong? You would probably be pretty disappointed, but would you be more upset or less upset if the mistake led to this guy?

The person who ordered the Brady Fathead, Reddit user FrigidCoke, was pretty ticked over the order.

“Ordered a Tom Brady fathead for my new office. Opened up the package and got this. You’ve gotta be f-ing kidding me,” FrigidCoke wrote on Reddit.

Fathead says they made up to the fan by sending the person all 13 Tom Brady Fatheads they have.

Over a year ago when people were ordering custom Tim Tebow Jesus jerseys and hanging billboards on behalf of him, this probably would have gone over much better. Given the current circumstances, that’s nothing shy of a cruel joke.

There was much ado about a report from ESPN The Magazine’s David Fleming on Friday that said Tim Tebow’s camp privately believes the quarterback’s NFL career is over. Even if some members of his inner circle believe that is the case, the former Heisman Trophy reportedly is not ready to give up on his NFL career, no surprise.

NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport said on “Total Access” on Friday afternoon that Tebow has no plans to retire and that he is working to remain in the NFL.

“I have no doubt people in Tim Tebow’s inner circle do believe that he has seen his last chance in the NFL. What I can tell you is Tim Tebow himself does not believe that. He has no plans to retire. He wants to play next year. He wants to play quarterback, and he wants to play in the NFL. He hasn’t ruled out a CFL bid yet, but he does have his site set on the NFL now. He is working out at IMG Academy doing his best to try and be ready for the 2013 season,” said Rapoport.

Rapoport says the big issue is that teams are not interested in Tebow because of a combination of a lack of skills and the media circus he brings.

“I have not found a team interested in signing him, and if there is a team interested, they’ve remained hidden from essentially everyone,” said Rapoport.

USA Today’s Mike Garafolo reported similar thoughts. He says Tebow is not ready to give up on the NFL nor consider other leagues. Garafolo’s source also denied the ESPN report. Another interesting tidbit from Garafolo is that Tebow and his camp do not plan to respond to the report because they understand the media frenzy Tebow creates is a turn off to teams, so they are looking to stay under the radar.

If there is anything we have learned about Tebow it’s that the man has tremendous confidence in himself. There is no way he would consider retiring, switching positions, or trying another league when he helped his team win a division and playoff game just two seasons ago. Common sense could tell you that.

It’s nearly June, NFL teams are having organized team activities, and Tim Tebow remains unsigned. According to an article by David Fleming in ESPN The Magazine, his camp is privately admitting his days in the NFL are probably over.

Here’s what Fleming writes:

Even now, after Tebow cleared waivers unclaimed and with members of his camp privately admitting that his NFL run is probably over, the football world remains as divided as ever over him.

Fleming goes on to say that Tebow’s former teammates won’t say anything bad about him, but scouts won’t say anything good. The consensus feeling is that Tebow is better than some second or third-string QBs in the league, but not worth signing because of how divisive he is.

“He’s not a quarterback. When you look at his run two years ago, when you watch the tape and break it down, he wasn’t really doing anything that impressive. He’s a tough guy, a great leader, a great person. But he isn’t a good enough quarterback to have all the distractions that come with him,” a scout told Fleming.

In addition to having issues with his throwing mechanics, Fleming says Tebow also struggled with the mental side of the game. Fleming says Tebow had trouble remembering plays the offensive coaches wanted him to run. For instance, Fleming says while the defense was on the field, the coaches would tell Tebow what series of plays they wanted to run and that Tebow would almost always forget the plays. As a result, Tebow was penalized for delay of game an NFL-high seven times. Fleming also says scouts believe Tebow hardly audibled because he was unable to read and process defenses quickly enough.

Pretty shocking that this is happening to a guy who helped the Denver Broncos go to the playoffs and win a playoff game two seasons ago.

The thinking used to be that Tebow could have an NFL future if he switched positions, but I’m not even sure that is the case. If teams are reluctant to bring on a project quarterback because of the distraction he causes, why would they want a project tight end or running back? Maybe Tebow will have to start considering his options in other leagues.

Helmet smack to Pro Football Talk