NFL Mocks picks the biggest quarterback tease in Jets history

NFL Mocks of the FanSided network recently released their slideshow of each NFL team’s biggest quarterback tease in their franchise history. For the New York Jets, it’s all about Mark Sanchez.

It wasn’t all that long ago that the New York Jets selected quarterback Mark Sanchez that made fans excited for everything he brought to the table. It was back in the 2009 NFL Draft that the Jets made that decision that would push the envelope of the franchise to some pretty incredible heights.

As soon as his rookie season, Sanchez took the Jets all the way to the AFC Championship Game. That’s right, the Jets were just a game away from making just their second Super Bowl appearance in franchise history but unfortunately, fell short. Sanchez did his part but was mostly defined by interceptions that year.

In his second season, Sanchez did the unthinkable and took the Jets once again to another AFC Championship Game appearance. Once again, the Jets failed to get the job done but Sanchez cleaned up his turnover issues and was playing lights out football for the majority of 2010.

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It was in 2011 that fans truly started to believe in the “Sanchize” that he could finally be the franchise quarterback they’ve been dreaming about for decades. Unfortunately, it was all just one big tease. Those back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances were just two huge teases that the truth of the matter was, Sanchez wasn’t a good quarterback.

For those first few years of his tenure with the Jets, it filled the franchise with a false hope that he was the long-term answer at the most important position on the team. In essence, Sanchez teased Jets fans everywhere since it was mostly that surreal Rex Ryan-led defense that kept the Jets being contenders against the majority of their opponents.

In a slideshow written by Erik Lambert of NFL Mocks, here’s why he picked Sanchez to be the biggest quarterback tease in Jets history:

The Jets traded up in the 2009 draft to take him at #5 overall. So right away expectations were elevated. Then it got worse when Sanchez guided the team to two-straight AFC championship games.

So immediately he was propped up as the guy who would finally break the Jets out of their Super Bowl slump. Then things crashed hard back to earth in 2012, forever encapsulated by the infamous “Butt Fumble.” Sanchez finished his career in New York with 69 touchdowns and 69 interceptions, people calling him out as a fraud.

Historically, the Jets have yet to get it right when it comes to their quarterback situation. For now, Sanchez will forever be known as a bust and well, a quarterback that teased the Jets into getting a small taste of success but actually regressed them right back into mediocrity.