Tebow's going to be a success, even if it's not at quarterback

INDIANAPOLIS

Much has been muttered between the lines at the NFL scouting combine about conscientious workout objectors, and much of it impugns Tim Tebow, who for an apparently pleasant, clean-living dude gets impugned a lot.

There's the familiar stuff: Tebow shouldn't stick the bible verses under his eyes. Tebow shouldn't have gone all anti-abortion on the Super Bowl ad with his mom. Tebow, who had a poor week at the Senior Bowl, has no chance to play quarterback in the NFL.

Regardless, Tebow still shouldn't have torn up his throwing mechanics before the combine and spring draft.

And now that he's here, Tebow should definitely change course and throw passes Sunday for all the NFL's most critical eyes. Tebow, and other quarterbacks it should be noted, have elected not to do so, saving themselves for the comfort of their on-campus pro-day workouts.

But by declining, "I'm not sure they do themselves a great service," Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress said, just one of the concerned voices.

"If you're a competitor, if you're a player, if you're good... come here and compete," Kansas City Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli said.

Tim Terrific, not a competitor? The Golden Boy, Heisman winner and two-time national champ shy to put himself out there?

Tebow, hair mussed, wearing baggy black shorts and a tight red workout shirt, blinked into the lights during his media session late Friday afternoon and grinned the bemused grin of the unaffected.

"I'm not scared of what people are going to say, obviously," Tebow said. "That's just my mentality. If I need to work on something and change it, I'm going to work on it to the best of my ability and do it now."

Two more weeks will help smooth his drop and delivery - Tebow said he's trying to set the ball higher, rid himself of a loopy motion - that he's worked on at a Tennessee development center partly owned by Peyton Manning.

That's another thing. Now, Tebow's coach at Florida, Urban Meyer, is getting impugned, too, for not "fixing" Tebow's fundamentals so he could be a better pro.

It's nonsense, of course. Meyer did exactly what Florida pays him to do: win a slew of games and two titles, with Tebow as his dynamic team leader. Next issue.

"I mean, it's something they probably talked about," Tebow said, "but after the first years we had some success, so it probably wasn't something they wanted to totally change."

And if it turns out Tebow's mechanics are irreparably flawed enough that he can't be what he's always wanted to be - an NFL quarterback - and if he can't be the hybrid back or the tight end others think he can be, the ensuing impugning won't stand a chance against Tebow's forward motion.

Make no mistake, Tebow said he'll exhaust himself trying to be an NFL player in any form. "If I'm on a team that asks me to help their team in some other way, of course I'm going to do that because it's always team first," Tebow said. "That's how I've always been, so if I can help the team, I'm gonna help the team."

But from Tebow's easy demeanor - he delights in flavoring his interviews with his "blessings" and ending them with "God bless" - the prevailing sense is Tebow is going to pretty much be able to handle come what may.

That is to say, if Tebow's athletic foundation doesn't suit the NFL, his charitable one is something that will do a great service.

The Tim Tebow Foundation was created "to invest in young people and put a smile on kids' faces that most people don't care about," Tebow said. "That's kind of what my foundation's all about: giving kids a brighter day, especially in their darkest hour of need.

"That's what I'm most passionate about. I'm more passionate about that then I've ever been about football."

Against that background, yeah, the sin of not throwing at a tryout seems forgivable.