Tim Tebow certainly is not speaking like a quarterback at risk of getting released from the team. Currently sitting at No. 3 on the depth chart, Tebow has not exactly helped himself so far in the preseason. As cuts are right around corner, Tebow is not sweating his job security.
"Just worried about improving every single day and having fun out there at practice," Tebow said, via the Boston Herald.
The Patriots will soon cut their roster from 84 to 75 players by next Tuesday. On Aug. 31, they will cut down to the final 53. Numbers are not in Tebow's favor. The Patriots have only carried three quarterbacks on the roster just once in the past four seasons. Ryan Mallett is a talented backup and the team is committed to him, but how committed to Tebow are they?
The preseason has not been kind to the one-time Denver Broncos starter. He is a combined 5-for-19 for 54 yards in the first two games. Last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he went 1-of-7 for -1 yard. For a player fighting to make a team, those numbers might not make it.
"You definitely want to do better in some areas, and also you have different things happen that you just try to handle the best way you can," Tebow said.
Bill Belichick is not concerned with the numbers when it comes to Tebow. Belichick believes Tebow should be viewed differently than other players on the team. The head coach notes that because Tebow is much different type of quarterback, he must be evaluated differently. He stated that while Tebow was not a polished pocket-passer, he has other qualities that are worth investing in.
"I think if you look at the entire week last week, it would look different than the game did," Belichick said. "In some cases, the game looked better for some players, and in some cases the game didn't look as good as some other things during the week. So we'll just have to take all that into consideration."
The reality is that Tebow cannot play as a pocket-passing quarterback. While the Patriots have remained adamant that Tebow will stay a quarterback, if he remains on the team they could likely use him as a situational player. Read-option plays, short yardage situations and even some brief play-action are all areas he can really excel in. If there is a head coach in the NFL that can figure out how to utilize Tebow's talents, it is Belichick.
Word around Patriots camp is that owner Robert Kraft is very sold on Tebow. That will likely go a long way, but will New England settle for carrying a player on the roster that can only contribute as a spokesman in the locker room and not on the field? Tebow will make it past the first round of cuts, but the second might not be so kind.