Jaguars Head Coach Mike Mularkey began his remarks to the media Thursday evening with an understatement.
"It's been an interesting couple of days," he said with a smile.
But Mularkey said while the team's effort to trade for Tim Tebow was both intriguing and event-filled, he also said the team was satisfied it had done all it could in an effort to acquire the former Denver Broncos and University of Florida standout.
Mularkey said Jaguars Owner Shad Khan asked General Manager Gene Smith to investigate a trade for Tebow, and that the team did what it could to do make the move.
"We really did our due diligence that Shad asked us to do in regards to the trade," Mularkey said before speaking at the team's annual Evening with the Coaches event at EverBank Field. "A lot of detail went into it. A lot of it's confidential, but we did our due diligence and negotiated in good faith.
"It just went the other way for us. We're ready to move on and continue the path we started when we got here nine weeks ago" (when Mularkey was hired as head coach).
Mularkey said nothing has changed with regard to the quarterback position, and that means developing 2011 first-round draft pick Blaine Gabbert as the starter.
Mularkey also said he spoke with both Gabbert and Chad Henne – signed last week to back up Gabbert and compete with Gabbert in training camp – mid-day Wednesday regarding the Tebow discussions.
"I wanted to make sure they were updated with where things are and where they aren't, and that what we told them from the beginning had not changed," Mularkey said. "We wanted to reconfirm it. We hadn't been in contact with him (Gabbert) for a number of weeks because of the way the new CBA is, but I just thought with the way things were going down it was important he heard from me and my belief in him, and that why we brought him here had not changed."
Mularkey said while much of the team's conversations regarding Tebow are confidential the team discussed several scenarios on how to use him.
"We had talked about all scenarios," Mularkey said. "He has some rare ability to do some things. All of that was discussed."
Asked about reports that the Jaguars didn't really want Tebow, Mularkey laughed.
"Don't believe everything you hear or read in the media," Mularkey said. "It's hard not to want a guy like that. We wouldn't have tried to trade for him if we didn't feel like we didn't want to have him here. There were a lot of things that went into this thing to try to get Tim to come here.
"In the long run it did not work out, but if you do not want a player you don't even get involved with it."
Mularkey said the Jaguars opted not to give up more to obtain Tebow because the team feels strongly about the draft and did not want to relinquish additional selections.
