It's easy to see how Mark Sanchez could be misled.
NFL.com reported Sunday that Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly refuted claims made last month by Sanchez, an Eagles QB, that mercurial Tim Tebow was just a camp arm the team signed to work while projected starter Sam Bradford continues to recover from ACL surgery.
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Give Kelly a little credit; Tebow's name isn't the first that comes to mind when looking for a quarterback to deliver on-target passes in practice.
Appearing in an interview on NFL Network a day earlier, Kelly talked about the reasoning behind signing the former Heisman Trophy winner. And he did, indeed, joke about the oft-criticized Tebow.
"No, I think everybody here that we bring to our organization is here to compete for a job," he said. "That's what Timmy is going to do. He's an unbelievable competitor. ... If we were just going to have guys throw drills, we'd take (Mike) Mayock in the offseason and bring him down here and let him throw to them."
Four years ago, however, Kelly himself distanced himself from the Tebow bandwagon. Kelly was still coach of the Oregon Ducks when he commented on Tebow, who had led the Denver Broncos to the 2011 AFC Divisional Round in the playoffs.
"I look for a quarterback who can run and not a running back who can throw. I want a quarterback who can beat you with his arm," Kelly explained at a coaches clinic in the spring of 2011, according to grantland.com, emphatically adding, "We are not a Tim Tebow type of quarterback team. I am not going to run my quarterback 20 times on power runs."
Given Tebow's signing, it would seem Kelly no longer views Tebow as a running back who can beat defenses with his arm.
And perhaps Sanchez merely is trying to convince himself about Tebow's presence at Eagles camp.
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