Tim Tebow is battling to make the Jacksonville Jaguars roster, needing to prove to his former college coach that he's worth keeping around. The former quarterback turned tight end has impressed Urban Meyer at times, but there are still parts of the position he needs to harness.
"He has good hands. In his drill work, he's great, but when you get in a competitive moment, just [because of his] lack of experience he wants to body the ball," Meyer told reporters at Jaguars camp Saturday. "When you get to a point where two people are going after it, you have to go get the ball. He is fighting through that a little bit, but he has the skill set to catch the ball."
Tebow has a legitimate opportunity to make the Jaguars roster. Jacksonville has Chris Manhertz and rookie Luke Farrell fighting for the starting job and veteran James O'Shaughnessy competing for a spot on the roster. Tebow is in the picture, but his unique skill set may convince the Jaguars to keep him around -- either by having four tight ends on the roster or beating out one of veterans for a spot.
"[Competition is] alive and well and the reality of 90 players is that you're going knock it down to 53, that's reality," Meyer said. "I had a chat with the team about that and I think I want to take the subjectivity out of it. It's a little bit like when we had Joe Burrow and Dwayne Haskins [at Ohio State], my gosh [they are] two first-round draft picks. It's not fair to a player to not have objectiveness in there and that means charting everything.
"Nothing's competitive yet. So, starting Monday, we are going to try to take the subjectivity out of who plays and who makes the team."
The Jaguars tight end competition should last throughout the preseason. If Tebow can improve on his weaknesses over the next several weeks, Meyer will have a reason to give him a roster spot.
