Jets G.M. Mike Tannenbaum joined PFT Live on Thursday to discuss a broad range of topics, including the one that everyone wants to discuss.
Backup quarterback Tim Tebow.
I asked Mike whether the reaction to the trade for Tebow was even bigger than the Jets had anticipated.
“We had a good idea of what we were getting ourselves into,” Tannenbaum said. “Tim’s a pretty unique person with a very unique following. And when we made the decision from a football standpoint -- and, you know, that’s our charge, and [owner] Woody [Johnson] always reiterates that and we sat down with Coach [Tony] Sparano and [head coach] Rex [Ryan] -- we felt like by far this was the best opportunity for us to try to get back to some of the diversity we want to do on offense, running different types of plays. And we just thought it was a great opportunity, and I felt like from my standpoint, Mike, that we should be able to create the infrastructure where Tim [and] the rest of his teammates could be successful, and we can manage the distractions.”
So, basically, the Jets are embracing Tebowmania. Or, at a minimum, it’s not causing them to hide under the bed. Yet.
“When you make a move like this, you know there’s going to be a lot of people that are going to follow him, but we don’t look at that as a negative.”
Tannenbaum said more about Tebow, even though the G.M. declined to delve into all of the ways that Tebow will be used on special teams by a coordinator who recently described Tebow as more potent that former Jets jack-of-all-trades Brad Smith. You can check out the Tebow related clip below. The full interview can be seen by clicking the link in the right rail, or by clicking the “PFT Live” button above.