The New England Patriots have a glaring hole at tight end, which fueled speculations that newly-signed Tim Tebow will fill that gap, but his new team has other plans for him as reported by Ben Volin of Boston Globe.
Earlier reports revealed that Tebow was seen undergoing five-minute drills involving skills required for a tight end or full back, Volin revealed that ninety percent of Tebow's activity was spent for quarterback training.
"Ninety-nine percent of Tebow's activity during his time with the Patriots has been spent learning to play quarterback in the team's system. He has only spent time in the quarterback meeting room, he wears a red non-contact jersey on the field and he runs the third-team offense during team drills," Volin reported.
According to the report, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels explained that Tebow was just practicing his open-field running, while also shutting down the possibility of playing the former Jets quarterback at tight end after losing Aaron Hernandez and injured star Rob Gronkowski.
McDaniels added that the Patriots included Tebow in tight-end drills to develop his ball-protection skills and how he will escape defenders better, while also reiterating that some of their defensive backs also underwent similar type of drills before.
In addition, McDaniels also expressed optimism that Tebow will silence his critics and develop himself as a backup quarterback, which will give the Patriots flexibility moving forward. Tebow's development could give the Patriots the chance to trade primary quarterback Ryan Mallet before his contract ends next year.
"He's put in a lot of time and effort to improve his individual skill set to play the position of quarterback in our offense, and I think every day is a learning tool for him. It's hard to gauge things at this point, but he's going to do all those things, and I'm sure he'll listen and take the coaching the way he always has and try to work to get better every day," McDaniels said.