With training camps open and the corps of pass catchers for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady looking pretty thin, rumors have abounded that Tim Tebow may be in the mix to play tight end or wide receiver.
The noise coming out of Pats camp, however, is that they view Tebow as a quarterback only, according to Ben Volin of The Boston Globe. Volin writes that 99 percent of Tebow's time there has been spent learning the system as a quarterback, he has only been in the quarterbacks' meeting room, and wears a red, non-contact jersey during practice.
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who drafted Tebow in the first round in 2010 as head coach of the Denver Broncos, even downplayed Tebow's time spent with skill players doing drills in which he turns, catches a pass, then heads upfield.
He's just practicing his open-field running," McDaniels said. "Matt Cassel and (Doug) Flutie and some of those other guys I've had a chance to coach, I think we did the same types of things with them. And again we know Tim has a skill set that some of these other guys don't possess in terms of his ability to run with it, scramble with it when he has it in his hands."
As far as replacing tight end Aaron Hernandez, who is currently in prison awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges, McDaniels doesn't seem worried about replacing his versatility.
"I don't know that I've ever coached one season where we didn't have to deal with, whether it was injuries or it was the loss of a player for a year. I mean we lost Brady in 2008 and that was certainly a challenge," McDaniels said. "Our offense has never been the same two years in a row, really. The system hopefully is broad enough that we can use the skills that our players have to the best of their ability."
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