New York Jets special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff is always entertaining. So you know he's got some good stuff when the topic shifts to Tim Tebow.
"It was a mess," Westhoff said on WQAM-AM, via the New York Daily News. "It was an absolute mess. You can say it however else you want it: It was really a mess. I was very disappointed."
"A mess" is probably the perfect description. Making things even more interesting, Westoff has the same questions most of us have.
"To be honest, I don't think anybody has really answered that question: Why did we do it?" Westhoff said. "I honestly don't know. I know we didn't practice it. We didn't practice it in training camp. We were going to unveil it. Well, I'm still waiting for the unveiling. And it didn't happen.
"It's very disappointing. But again, if you just say this is a quintessential NFL drop back quarterback, no he's not. He's just not. But if you use him a lot of different facets, in my opinion, I think he's outstanding. If you do that. But we didn't do it. And it was a distraction ... and really a shame. Because that's a hard-working young man if you ever saw one. Believe me."
A distraction? How could Westhoff say such things?
Westhoff added that the original plan was to play Tebow on special teams one percent of the time. That became much more. And new Jacksonville Jaguars general manager David Caldwell doesn't want anything to do with Tebow. His future in New York is unknown.
"Tim Tebow, as an NFL quarterback ... he's very limited in some things," Westhoff said. "If you throw him right in the middle of a drop-back passing offense, he will look very very average at best. But if you incorporate him in different facets of your offense, I think he can be a factor. That's what I felt we were going to do, but we never did it. We could put him in for a play. I was expecting to see him line up as a ... really, to tell you the truth ... a couple roles. I'll give you example ... an H-back. A tight end. ... And then he's lined up at quarterback. That's what I was expecting to see. And we didn't do it.
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"My role with him was really only to be like 1 percent. That's all I was thinking. Then when Eric Smith got hurt, I had to use him full-time. I didn't have anyone. I was stuck I lost two guys. ... Most of the stuff he did for me, he did outstanding. But it was supposed to be only a fraction and it ended up being his only role."
This is the most honest public evaluation of Tebow from anyone within the organization. He's asking the same questions the rest of us did.
Sadly (for Jets fans), Westhoff is one of the guys who should know more than the rest of us.
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.
