As a Jets fan, I have always given Bill Belichick credit for taking people with average talent, but a huge amount of heart, and turning them into contributing role players. Examples being Danny Woodhead and Josh Edelman. Now he is going to try his hand at fixing Tim Tebow. Will it work? Only time will tell. But meanwhile, our worst nightmare (Tim Tebow running all over us twice a year) seems as if it will come true.
I am a Mets fan and a Jets fan. I am wondering if I am living in my own special Hades.
I’m glad he’s getting another chance. The Pats aren’t a bad place for him to be. No QB controversy as long as Brady is healthy, solid mentoring available if Tebow is willing to wear a baseball cap and hold a clipboard most of the time, and he’ll probably get a few gimmick plays here and there.
Exactly my thoughts. Not even the most brainwashed Tebowmaniac is going to call for NE to “give him a chance” so hopefully he can face in the noise and get a chance to learn the NFL.
Someone has to do something about that nutjob Belichick. He’s doing this to get under the Jets’ skin, he thinks. It’s a waste of money for a team that can’t afford to hold on to talent, and it’s just a childish prank.
Hmmm. There’s not a lot of evidence that the Patriots or Belicheck do things for those kinds of reasons, but I guess it’s possible. Certainly everybody will occasionally pick up a guy recently cut by a rival, just to learn their plays; it could certainly have a bit to do with that.
But on a more positive note I was thinking that this is a win for fans of interesting football. Nobody has less pressure to play Tebow that Belicheck, so we’re not going to be subjected to pocket passer Tebow unless he’s ready for it. And the Patriots do seem to be able to develop QBs; but even if they can’t turn Tebow into a pocket passer (and for the sake of interesting football, I hope they don’t), Belicheck does have a snall history of utilizing unique talents (Gronkowski, Woodhead, heck, even this barely-drafted QB they’ve got) in reasonably creative ways.
Just for the fun value, I really hope Belicheck can work out an offense that uses the flexibility of Tebow/Hernandez/Woodhead/Gronkowski with Brady at QB to make something interestingly different happen (sure, as a New Englander, I hope it’s successful, too, but the fun is more important than winning).
Genius move by Belichick. Tebow signed for no guaranteed money, rosters are at 90 for the next few months. Patriots now have 3 months to evaluate Tebow to see how he can help on short yardage situations. If he doesn’t, he’s gone, no money spent, no roster spot used. If he can help, well the rich just to richer
It’s pretty much a no-lose situation for everybody. The Pats aren’t guaranteeing him any money. They are totally set at QB (he’ll be third on the depth chart) and nobody has more job security than Belichick, so even if the entire world were clamoring for him to play, which plainly isn’t happening with Tom Brady in town, he won’t give a shit. If he succeeds people will say the Patriots figured out how to use him and if he fails nobody will blame the Pats. And I almost like Belichick a little more for the way he dumped on everybody’s excitement.
So with no money guaranteed, does he still have a minimum salary? What happens if he gets hurt - is there a player’s union insurance fund or something?
He’ll be paid. He’s just not guaranteed any money if they cut him, so he has to be on their roster for both years to get the full value of the contract, whatever that is.
Most teams down to their 3rd quarterback wouldn’t have a chance of winning a football game. The Pats with Tebow could at least surprise some people and win a couple while waiting for Brady to get healthy.
I wonder if this will be the norm in the future. Keep a 3rd string quarterback that is a total departure from your starter and backup. It would give you a change of pace in the event of total disaster and also someone to run the scout team depending on the type of opposing quarterback you will be playing that week.
Players get paid before the regular season, at least after training camp starts. They get food, housing, and a per diem until the week before the first regular season game. It’s not a lot compared to a base pay but it should be enough to live on (averages out to something like $3k -$5k a month depending on seniority) plus you get a small bonus payment for attending voluntary training.
And “no guaranteed money” just means the Patriots are off the hook if they release or trade him. He gets paid for as many games as he’s on the roster plus any bonuses he’s negotiated. The per year averages we hear about on the monster NFL contracts usually include both guaranteed and non-guaranteed money.
As for injuries, since he’s signed, any football related injuries are on the Patriots. Non football injuries can be handled through the NFL Player’s Association, which offers pretty good health insurance plans.
If he’s cut or quits, things change a bit. Since he’s not a 4 year veteran yet, he’s on his own for insurance if/when he’s cut. If he had 4 years under his belt, he’d get 5 years of coverage.
That said, he had a pretty decent couple of contracts with reasonable bonuses, so he shouldn’t be hurting for money, unless he’s gone on a few binges we don’t know about.
Must we go down this hypothetical road? A Patriots team that lost both Brady and the guy who has been backing up Brady for a couple of years would probably not be very good. And in that situation the Pats’ biggest problem wouldn’t be ‘can our third-stringer surprise some people and win some games.’
Anyway, SI says he’ll be making the veteran’s minimum plus possible incentives. So the risk here is about as low as it could possibly be.
As rumored. Or the guy might make an interesting offensive back. His best quality as a quarterback was never his arm, but the fact he’s a goddamned freight train when he carries.
He’s being listed as a quarterback. His value as a tight end or running back is pretty questionable - he’s not that big or faster, and you may recall this team has a guy named Gronkowski.
What are you talking about? If Brady and Mallet were out for a few games, the Patriots biggest problem would be exactly that. Not every injury is a season ending injury. Sometimes you need a guy who could win 2 out of 4, beat a bad team, and won’t give away a game. Plus your scout team is going to need to be able to run a capable spread option attack a few times a year depending on who you’re preparing for.
The guy has the same size and speed as Hernandez, he doesn’t have the hands, but Hernandez has run effectively out of the backfield at different times.
We’ve discussed this before in a few threads, but he’s really slow to be a RB or TE. He’s big and relatively quick for a QB, but that’s a huge qualifier. Big and fast for a QB is slow and on the small side for a TE. He’s fast for a FB, I guess, but he’s pretty small for that, too.
Get him in space, and he can be effective, which is what the read option is supposed to do - get him in space and let the line block out most defenders. But defenses are starting to twig to that with all the fast QBs these days. Tebow is a slower, less accurate version of those guys.
But I could see how he might fit into some kind of hybrid TE/FB/WR/jack of all trades role that James Casey kind of did in Houston (which did, in fact, include some long snapping and special teams) and may again play in Philadelphia this year.
Meh. In 2011, Houston won a few games (including their first ever frachise playoff game) with an unknown 3rd string rookie QB. TJ Yates is still relatively unknown. Tim Tebow wasn’t even the most highly skilled 3rd string QB last season (probably Yates fits that bill). I don’t see how that changes this season, though maybe Belichick can somehow parlay that into something interesting - but he’d do the same with pretty much anybody who wasn’t Tim Tebow anyway.
Given that Brady turns 36 this summer, it would hardly be astonishing if the Pats’ 3rd-string QB turned into their #2 at some point. So it’s not a bad bit of cheap insurance.
And to go down memory lane, here’s Jimmy Fallon doing Tebowie!