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
