AP

Another day, another potential role for Tim Tebow.

Alper pointed out on Tuesday that Tebow, the Jets’ backup quarterback and first-string personal punt protector, could be used on the kickoff team.

According to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, Tebow also will show up on the kick-return and punt-return teams.

“I think there might be some value there on kickoff returns,” assistant special-teams coordinator Ben Kotwica said, per Mehta. “It’s something that we’ve talked about. I don’t think there’s any option with Tim that we’ve taken off the table. So, that would be something that would be new to him as well. In what we’ve asked him to do as the personal protector [right now], he’s done an excellent job.”

Special-teams coordinator Mike Westhoff said that Tebow’s role on the kick-return team will be periodic. “There are certain situations where he might be on the field that he could be utilized possibly to block or possibly to field a ball,” Westhoff told Mehta. “If a team squibs it at you or pops it at you, he might be the perfect guy to put in that could make an adjustment. If they kick it deep, he could block. If they squib it or pop it, he could be a guy that we’d have with a ball in his hands. . . . Jerricho Cotchery did a nice job for us in that role. Brad Smith, before he became the [primary return] guy, did some of that for us. So, it’s just a situational thing.”

Still, Tebow won’t be a constant presence on the various special teams. “His role with me won’t be a paramount role,” Westhoff said. “I’m not counting on Tebow coming in and being a hard-core special teams player. That’s not what we want. We have a limited role for him, but it will be one that presents problems. That’s what Tebow is all about. He presents problems to good football teams in a lot of aspects. You have to be aware of it. If you’re not aware of it, it could jump up and smack you. . . . His role with me will be limited, but I think it’s a very important one. He can help us in a lot of ways.”

The special-teams chatter regarding Tebow seems to be, at its core, a vehicle for keeping him satisfied about his overall role on the team, possibly reducing his desire to supplant Mark Sanchez as the starting quarterback. If Tebow is serving as the Wildcat quarterback, a situational fullback/H-back, the red-zone quarterback, the personal punt protector, a member of the kickoff team, and a periodic presence on the kick-return and punt-return teams, Tebow may be satisfied with his total involvement in a given game.

The fact that Tebow has bulked up noticeably also makes it less likely that we’ll see him as the regular quarterback.

Unless, of course, Mark Sanchez plays poorly and the Jets decide to keep him as the “starter” (i.e., the guy who takes the first snap of the game) but to increase the number of reps that Tebow takes at the position Sanchez plays.