The Curious Case of Mark Sanchez

This morning, as reported by Rich Cimini on Twitter, Mark Sanchez stated his desire to return to the Jets next season and “lead the team”, further stating that playing quarterback for the New York Jets has been a “dream come true” and that he never wants to leave. Unfortunately for Mark Sanchez the scenario and the circumstances do not bode well for him wearing green and white in New York next season. The bottom line is most fans have seen enough to think Sanchez is not the answer and with a huge cap hit next season, unless Sanchez decides to take less money, he will get cut or traded. Idzik will look to use this cap space to bring in young talented players to fill positions of weakness, and move forward with the younger and cheaper option in Geno.

The interesting thing is Mark Sanchez’s dwindling performance might not be all his fault, there are many factors that contributed. When looking at Sanchez’s career we see he had a rough rookie season, but the Jets made it deep in the playoffs that season relying on a running game with quality blocking from, what was at the time, one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. In his second season the Jets found the best offensive balance they have had in the Rex Ryan era, still relying on the run while mixing in more and more passing plays. The result was another deep playoff run that again stalled out in the AFC championship game. The next season things got uglier, and the season after was even worse, and although Mark Sanchez takes a lot of the blame there is plenty to be spread about.

During his tenure with the Jets Sanchez worked for his first three years with Brian Schottenheimer, a man who later lost this position because of questionable play calling and consistent inconsistency from his offense. Enter Tony Sporano, whose old school approach to football seemed a perfect fit at the time for the New York Jets. Unfortunately for the Jets and Sporano this approach came off as archaic in today’s NFL and the offense got worse. The entire time these changes at OC were going on the Jets roster was also losing it’s magic, with the stone wall offensive line of 2009 seeming like a distant memory. In 2009 our offensive line consisted of Alan Faneca, Nick Mangold, D’Brickshaw Ferguson, Damian Woody and Brandon Moore, and they were highly vaunted, helping the Jets become the number one rushing team in the NFL. In 2012 Mangold, Brick and Moore were still around but with Woody and Faneca gone, and weak links(such as Wayne Hunter) put in their place the offensive line was nowhere near what it once was. This led to Mark Sanchez running for his life and having his worst statistical year as a Jet.

Now the Jets are moving forward, with the general manager who slowly stripped the Jets of offensive line talent and receiving talent now gone, and a much more prudent “build for tomorrow” general manager in his place. Unfortunately this new GM is clearly not a fan of the type of big ticket contracts that Sanchez has, and even though he might deserve a chance with a competent offensive coordinator, his contract with the Jets is exactly what will keep him off the team next season.

Cimini’s original tweet:

Mark Sanchez: “It’s been a dream come true to play here and I don’t want to go anywhere else, that’s for sure.” #Jets

— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) November 26, 2013