Jets will introduce Tebow Monday

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Tim Tebow will be introduced Monday as the backup to Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez at the team's Florham Park, N.J., training facility. But the way Rex Ryan sounded Sunday at the NFL owners meetings here, Tebow will be more than just the No. 2 passer on the depth chart.

Sure, he'll be the Wildcat quarterback, as the Jets have said. But he might do even more than that, according to Ryan. Running back? Tight end? H-back? Wide receiver? More quarterback? "We'll see," he said.

In an NFL Network interview Sunday night, Ryan hinted that he can foresee Tebow taking up to 20 Wildcat snaps per game -- nearly one-third of what typically is the total number of snaps. Said Ryan, "The thing about him is he is smart, athletic, tough and an unbelievably great competitor. We're going to build a football team, but Tony [Sparano, the offensive coordinator] is creative, I think we are all creative. We're going to use this player.

"We bring in guys for a purpose of how can they help us, are there things they can do to help us, and we feel Tim is a guy that can really help us. He is a quarterback, no question he's a quarterback, but his skills I see as a football player, that gets me excited."

There has been speculation that the Tebow trade was a marketing ploy in response to the Giants' winning Super Bowl XLVI. Ryan and Jets owner Woody Johnson insisted it was strictly about adding a talented player.

"We work for the fans, and the fans want us to win games," Johnson said. "So all the decisions that we make regarding the team are just for football. If you get confused in terms of what your mission is, you're not going to accomplish the mission, and our mission is to win games, pure and simple."

Johnson said Tebow "adds flexibility, versatility, he's a great athlete, a big athlete. He can do a lot of things besides be the backup quarterback. All those things are going to make us a better and stronger team, and I'm excited to have him on board."

Ryan said he is convinced that Tebow's presence won't be a drag on Sanchez's confidence, even though Tebow, as a Bronco, unequivocally said he wants to be a full-time quarterback.

"I think Mark is an extremely confident guy," Ryan said. "What he understands is we're bringing in a football player and a guy that's going to help us, and that's all we care about. We care about winning, and Mark is the same way. They're both very competitive guys, but we have a No. 1 quarterback. Mark Sanchez is our No. 1 quarterback. Tim Tebow is our No. 2 quarterback. But he's also going to do other things for this football team."

Asked if he would consider making a change if Sanchez struggles, Ryan said he doesn't envision that scenario. But he didn't dismiss the idea, either.

"I'm not going to just say, 'If this happens, if that happens,' " Ryan said. "If something like that does happen, we'll address it."

Ryan doesn't think Tebow will be frustrated by his role. "I don't see Tim just holding a clipboard," he said. "He's going to be playing for us. There's no doubt. He'll have a role: Wildcat. He'll be a better Wildcat quarterback [than anyone else in the NFL]. Is that his only role? We'll see what happens."

Ryan said he feels better about the situation than at any time since he took over in 2009. "I feel really good with Mark as the No. 1 guy,'' he said. "You have Tim as the backup quarterback and you have Greg McElroy as the No. 3. I think we're in great shape at quarterback."

Ryan also dismissed the notion that trading for Tebow was a reaction to the Giants' Super Bowl triumph. "If we had won the Super Bowl, we would have done the same thing," he said. "I don't look at it like, has this team won the Super Bowl or not? We don't care. I care about one team, and that's ours."

Tebow's news conference will be held in the Jets' fieldhouse because of the expected media crush. Giants co-owner John Mara took a shot at the Jets earlier in the day when he was asked if New York is big enough for the Giants and Tebow. "I don't know," Mara said, "but the David Carr press conference is [this] afternoon, too."

Carr, Eli Manning's backup, re-signed last week. There will be no news conference for him.