FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — It turns out the Patriots signed Tim Tebow in part because their owner thinks the team’s “spirituality” was lacking.
That was the surprising word today from Robert Kraft, who is more than happy to fill in the numerous blanks left by tight-lipped coach Bill Belichick when it comes to explaining New England’s surprise decision this week to sign the polarizing ex-Jets quarterback.
“For me personaly, having Tim Tebow on this team, he’s someone who believes in spirituality, he’s very competitive, works hard and has a great attitude,” Kraft said at a charity event at Gillette Stadium honoring his late wife.
“He’s a winner, and the fact that spirituality is so important to him is very appealing to me,” Kraft continued.
Kraft also labeled Tebow’s openly religious nature “an added dimension” that helped convince the Patriots to sign him to a two-year deal (with no guaranteed money) after five weeks on the NFL unemployment line.
Kraft even echoed the infamous comment by Jets owner Woody Johnson last summer that “you can never have enough Tebow” — a comment Johnson came to regret after the Jets barely used Tebow during the regular season and then released him in April.
“You can’t have enough good people around you, and [Tebow] has the added dimension of spirituality being so important to him, and that personally appeals to me a lot,” Kraft said.
That was certainly more of an explanation that Belichick was interested in providing. Once again showing his short patience for Tebow-related questions, the coach refused to say this morning how he thought the newcomer performed Tuesday in the first day of the Patriots’ three-day mandatory minicamp.
“We’re not going to get into a minute-by-minute evaluation of a player,” Belichick said. “I don’t think that’s the way to go, especially at this time of year.”
Belichick’s boss wasn’t afraid to do exactly that, however, and Kraft raised more eyebrows in the process by praising Tebow’s much-criticized throwing skills.
Kraft went so far as to compare the awkward lefthander favorably to fellow Patriot passers Tom Brady (he of the three Super Bowl rings) and top backup Ryan Mallett.
“Watching Tebow throw yesterday [in a minicamp workout], to me, he looked pretty good,” Kraft said. “It’s fun having him here. It’s nice to have three quarterbacks who can throw it really well.”
But Kraft contradicted his own organization’s actions by saying Tebow “is just one of 90” players on the Patriots’ current roster, which was curious in light of the team continuing to hype sales of his No. 5 jersey on its website.
Moreover, all NFL clubs are allowed by league rules to have two “star” players who only have to speak to the media once per week, and the Patriots announced yesterday that Tebow — a third-stringer — and Brady are their two designated stars.
Kraft, who has said repeatedly that he doesn’t want Brady to ever come off the field when the Patriots are on offense, appeared to shoot down the prospect of Tebow ever being used at quarterback in a gadget-play situation.
“In my mind, we have the greatest quarterback of all time on our team,” Kraft said. “And every time he has the ball in his hand, we have a chance to do something great. Nothing has changed in that regard for me.”
Brady didn’t seem to keen on that possibility, either, when asked this afternoon by The Post how he would feel about coming off the field for even one play when he’s healthy.
“That’s a very hypothetical question,” Brady said. “So maybe we’ll deal with it if it happens.”
bhubbuch@nypost.com
