Stew Milne-USA TODAY Sports
If you will indulge me, I am going to speculate for a moment. Watching the multitude of bad luck events raining down on the New England Patriots, it is safe to say the glory years have been replaced with tough times. They may be temporary tough times, but tough time nonetheless.
Wes Welker, Brandon Lloyd and Danny Woodhead have abandoned the “Patriot Way,” Rob Gronkowski is more than a question mark heading into training camp and Aaron Hernandez’s chances of suiting up as a Patriot diminishes with each passing hour of the incident in Massachusetts.
The Patriots are seriously lacking playmakers.
Fear not Bostonians, there is one possible solution already rostered by the Patriots – Tim Tebow.
I temporarily digress to allow for the heckling, jokes and countless punchlines as most of you read through this.
Now, before continuing, keep this storyline in perspective. Opinions differ on Tebow as a quarterback, I am not here to dispute either side. This is speculation is about Tebow the athlete, not Tebow the quarterback. Please continue with an open mind.
There are undisputed known qualities when it comes to the former Florida Gator. He works hard, he is a tough athlete, he will do what is asked of him as a team player and he has tremendous athleticism.
Tebow wants to be a quarterback, he has been stubborn in his position from the outset and nothing is detouring his resolve. That said, he has never been opposed to doing what his head coach asks of him.
Case-in-point: the New York Jets. They lacked any vision when it came to Tebow’s abilities, simply running him head on into defenses consistently loaded with eight in the box. I may not be the sharpest bulb in the knife drawer, but it doesn’t require a doctorate in common sense to realize that would net a zero percent success rate every time. Yet Tebow, being the good soldier he is, did what he was asked.
As a member of the Denver Broncos, his talents were utilized in more realistic game planning by then offensive coordinator Mike McCoy. Tebow was used as a quarterback, running back, wide receiver, an occasional distraction and maybe even temporary water boy for the Broncos. The bottom line is whenever Tebow is asked to fill a position for a football team – he does, period.
Unless you have watched the career of Tebow closely or have witnessed his pregame ritual a time or two, you are unaware of his pass catching abilities. He’s good – borderline great.
With Kyle Orton as the signal caller in Denver, the Broncos sustained a plethora of wide receiver injuries requiring Tebow to play the position. Once again, without complaint Tebow obliged. Of course, the entire Rocky Mountain region was crying for Tebow to play quarterback at that time, so chances of Orton throwing his direction bordered that of the proverbial snowball in hades. But there was a reason he was asked to play wide receiver – his athleticism.
Here is another angle. Bill Belichick is a polarizing coach who you either believe to be one of the smartest coaches in NFL history or one of the luckiest. I believe him to be one of the best and think that there is reasoning behind every move he makes. Such had to be the case with Tebow, why else would he welcome the media circus that generally follows?
Tebow may have been brought to New England with the promise of one day becoming a quarterback. Until then, he is simply one piece in the big puzzle that is Belichick’s offense. I guarantee Belichick and Josh McKnucklehead (McDaniels) are scheming in light of current circumstances and it is my contention that Tebow will be a part of that master plan. He will block, he will catch, he will run – he will be relevant.
Tebow has the ability to be a jack-of-all-trades in the NFL. Belichick has shown a knack for using players creatively to fill holes on offense and defense when needed. On paper, it is the perfect pairing.
It sounds crazy now, maybe even preposterous to some, but come December, Tebow is no longer an NFL punch line — count on it.
Jim Heath is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @jim_heath, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
