BREAKING NEWS: Mark Sanchez and New York Jets Sign Long Term Deal

Love him or hate him, Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is not going anywhere.

General Manager Mike Tannenbaum announced tonight that the Jets and their 3 year starting quarterback have come to terms on a long term contract extension.  The deal was announced during a conference call that began after 10:30 PM this evening.  The deal is a three year extension worth $40.5 million, giving him 5 years at $58.25 million, including $20.5 million guaranteed.

“I’m really excited to announce we’ve reached an agreement in principle on a contract extension with Mark,” Tannenbaum said. “Mark’s a guy we identified that we wanted to sign to an extension. It started several weeks ago. Mark’s our starter and we’re excited about 2012. From my standpoint it’s Mark and Rex going into year 4. Talking to Woody [Johnson] about it, we feel really comfortable with those two positions.”

This deal comes early in the Peyton Manning decision process, reaffirming earlier reports stating that the Jets have fallen out of the race for the free agent quarterback.  The Jets were rumored to be suitors for Peyton, but reports came out today that the Jets were not generating much interest from the future hall of famer.

“Part of my duties when opportunities come along are that we have to investigate it,” Tannenbaum said of contacting Manning’s representatives shortly after the Colts released him. “Peyton’s a future Hall of Famer, a tremendous person. We looked into it and had internal discussions. But we continued to talk with Mark’s representatives all the way through it and about three hours ago we found a landing spot.”

Now the Jets will go forward with Mark sanchez at the helm.