Tim Tebow turned down XFL to keep playing Minor League Baseball

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- New York Mets minor leaguer Tim Tebow turned down a chance to play in the XFL so he could keep playing baseball.

Tebow spoke about his negotiations with the revived football league at Mets spring training Sunday in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The 32-year-old former Heisman Trophy winner last took an NFL regular-season snap in 2012.

The XFL -- a professional football league -- originally started in 2001, but lasted one season. WWE chairman Vince McMahon relaunched the league in January.

"There was some communication. We had a couple of conversations, but it was pretty clear [I wasn't playing in the XFL]," Tebow told reporters.

The XFL finished the second week of the 2020 season Sunday. Houston Roughnecks quarterback P.J. Walker leads the league with seven passing scores.

"I love what they are doing," Tebow said of the XFL. "I think it has a chance to have success and I think that's great. I think there needs to be a place for a lot of players who are really good and should and could be playing in the NFL and are better than a lot of NFL players.

"I think it's awesome and good for a lot of guys who are going to get a spot on an NFL roster because they are going to show a team they're worth it. But [baseball] is what I wanted to do and pursue and be all in [on]."

Tebow first played for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League in 2016 and has yet to make it onto a Major League Baseball roster. He hit .163 with four home runs and 19 RBIs in 77 games last season for the Triple-A Syracuse Mets.

The Mets will face the St. Louis Cardinals in their first spring training game at 1:05 p.m. EST Saturday at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Fla.