Eagles' Chip Kelly says Tim Tebow a quarterback, not a specialist

A DUCK never is just a duck with Chip Kelly. There always is a deeper meaning or grander plan to everything The Most Interesting Coach in the World does. Or so we have been conditioned to believe.

He is a chess master who always is thinking three or four or five or 100 moves ahead. And when he saw fit to sign Tim Tebow last month, well, our imaginations ran wild with the ways Kelly probably was planning to use him, none of which had anything to do with him throwing the football.

He's going to be a short-yardage specialist and be used on two-point attempts.

He's going to be a special-teams player.

He's going to play fullback or tight end.

When the Eagles proposed moving the two-point attempt after touchdowns from the 2-yard line to the 1 at the league's spring meeting earlier this month, it only increased speculation that Kelly wanted to find a way to take advantage of Tebow's running ability.

But the truth is, we probably all overthought this one a little bit. The truth is, the Eagles signed Tebow last month for no other reason than they think he might be able to compete for one of the backup quarterback jobs.

Period. End of story.

"He's a quarterback," Kelly said yesterday.

When a reporter started to suggest there might be other ways to take advantage of Tebow's, uh, unique skill set, Kelly cut him off and said, "No, he's a quarterback. That's what we're looking at Tim as. We're not playing him at any other position."

With G.J. Kinne moving over to wide receiver, the Eagles needed a fourth quarterback on their 90-man roster. After working out Tebow in March and comparing him with the quarterbacks they could have taken in the late rounds of the draft or signed as undrafted free agents, they simply thought Tebow was the best option.

"We looked at the prospects that we saw in the draft and didn't think there was a guy where we were going to be looking for a quarterback that was a draftable guy," Kelly said. "And we didn't think it was a great priority free-agent class in terms of quarterbacks.

"We were looking for a guy. There were a few guys we looked at that were not with teams that were out on the street, and Tim was a guy we thought could come in here [and compete]."

This is not to suggest that Kelly might not eventually decide to use Tebow as a two-point weapon. But Tebow must first win one of the backup quarterback jobs.

"Tim is just one of us," quarterback Matt Barkley said. "We're all renting seats, and he's trying to make the team just like we all are."

Tebow, who was taken with the 25th overall pick in the 2010 draft by Denver, hasn't played in an NFL preseason or regular-season game since the summer of 2013, when he tried and failed to make the New England Patriots' roster.

He was hired by ESPN as an analyst on the SEC Network after the Patriots cut him. But he never gave up hope of making an NFL roster again.

When he wasn't on the air, he was on the West Coast working with biomechanic specialists Tom House and Adam Dedeaux on fixing his very flawed throwing mechanics.

House, a former journeyman pitcher, and Dedeaux, the grandson of legendary USC baseball coach Rod Dedeaux, were recommended to Tebow by Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

Tebow, who has a 47.9 career completion percentage, spent the better part of a year working with them. He showed enough improvement in his workout with the Eagles to persuade Kelly to give him a one-year, veteran-minimum chance.

"I just tried to work on certain things," Tebow said. "Balance, posture, sequencing timing. So many things go into [throwing the football]. It's not just one day or one week. You have to work from the ground up and really slowly try to improve on everything, and then let that become muscle memory and then try to master that."

House, who has a Ph.D. in performance psychology, said Tebow's biggest problem was poor timing with his foot stride. He said the quarterback still has basically the same throwing motion, but has fixed the front side of his delivery and throws with better posture, which has helped the timing in his stride and improved his accuracy.

"Tom and Adam, they're awesome," Tebow said. "They really know biomechanics. I spent hours and hours with those guys working. It was very helpful."

Now, we'll see whether Tebow can continue to implement what he's learned. That shouldn't be a problem in OTAs or next month's minicamp or even in training camp when quarterbacks can't be hit. The true test will come in preseason games.

"I'm just enjoying the opportunity to be playing football again and make the most of this opportunity," Tebow said after the Eagles concluded their third OTA session yesterday. "I want to come out here and do my best and improve every day and enjoy every moment.

"All I know is that I'm enjoying this process. I'm going to take it day by day and try to improve and try to get better. And also enjoy this, enjoy the opportunity.

"I think sometimes, when things get taken away, you don't realize how much fun it is to come out here and play this game. You can't play it forever, so I'm going to enjoy it."

On Twitter: @Pdomo

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian.com