Tim Tebow chatted with Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco of ESPN New York on Monday during New York Jets training camp at SUNY Cortland. As is his style, Smith baited Tebow by being very direct with him and he did actually get Tebow to admit that he is "not sure" yet what his role with the Jets will be.
Sports Radio Interviews has the full transcript. Here are a couple of the highlights.
Asked what his role will be this season, Tebow really didn't have an answer.
"That's a good question and I'm going to be 100 percent honest: I am not sure. I think for me it is whatever I am being asked to do I do with all my heart. I try to do a great job at it," Tebow said. "We are in day four, so just continuing to learn and we are continuing to learn. The coaches are learning us, learning the offense, learning installs, so it's so early in the process that I have to say I can't give you a straight answer on that."
Smith also told Tebow he doesn't "have confidence in the way you throw the football." Tebow defended himself, but didn't really rise to Smith's bait.
"First of all it is not my place to try and debate and make my stuff look good. That's not my place at all. I appreciate you complementing me saying that I have an impact and that I can win football games. I really appreciate that and just as far as getting better throwing I've been working extremely hard on that. I feel like in my career I've done some good things," Tebow said.
Smith also told Tebow he was "contradicting yourself" by rooting for Mark Sanchez while at the same time trying to take his job. Tebow's response was typical Tebow.
"I think there are things more important than a football game. Your relationship and how you treat people...how you treat people in general...that's more important to me than football games," Tebow said. "We spend a lot of time on it and we're passionate about it, but ultimately football is not the most important thing, but as far as rooting someone on and supporting them? You can do that with still trying to go out there and do your best. If your best is better than so be it. If it's not then you have to do the other roles you are asked to do."