Rob Ninkovich has no time for the conversation about Tim Tebow returning to the NFL and taking on a new position.
Tebow recently has found his way back into headlines after reports surfaced indicating the Jacksonville Jaguars might be interested in signing the 2010 first-round pick. Not as a quarterback, however, but rather as a tight end.
Ninkovich on Wednesday was asked if there was any shot a reinvented Tebow could crack the Jaguars’ Week 1 roster. The former New England Patriots defensive end delivered an emphatic response.
“No. No,” Ninkovich said on ESPN’s “Get Up,” as transcribed by 247Sports. “Honestly, I look at this: If you threw a helmet and shoulder pads on me, and I haven’t played in four years, I would be able to throw around Tim Tebow as a tight end. Listen, listen, you can’t just go from quarterback to a tight end. You can’t do it. There’s guys on rosters, and this is one of the issues that I have with the whole thing. There’s some kid that’s coming out of college that wants an opportunity and wants just to have that roster spot to go out and have the opportunity to possibly make a team. Tim Tebow has had that opportunity in the NFL. He’s had his opportunity in the NFL. He was a quarterback — it didn’t last very long. Then he wanted to go play baseball — OK. Go play baseball. It didn’t work out in baseball.
“So now his relationship with Urban Meyer gives him another chance to go play football. But it’s not like that in football, and this is one reason I love football and I fell in love with the game, you can’t hide. You can’t hide in football. You can’t go out in left field and just go somewhere. When you’re on that field and you put pads on, you’re exposed. That’s why I love the game. When you put pads on and someone’s talking, you say ‘Alright, let’s put pads on. Let’s see who’s the tougher guy.’ You can see the people who can play. You can see it with your eyes. The film doesn’t lie. The eye in the sky — you should say ‘the eye in the sky don’t lie.’ Because once that film is on, you’re going to be exposed.”
Plenty of others surely feel the same way as Ninkovich, potentially even folks in the Jaguars organization. There reportedly is “serious disagreement” in Jacksonville about the possibility of Meyer and Tebow reuniting in Northeast Florida.
