Much of the sports world would agree that Mark Sanchez should not be the quarterback of the New York Jets.
But when people go inside the team facility, something funny happens. People start saying strange things, and most of those people become Sanchez fans.
New Jets general manager John Idzik has apparently joined that club and thinks Sanchez should still have a chance at the Jets’ starting quarterback job. Just days into his tenure, Idzik is already supporting the underperforming quarterback.
“Yeah, I’m comfortable with Mark being a Jet,” Idzik told Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason on WFAN in New York. “I told him as well: We’re going to add competition. … It’s going to help make Mark and everybody else better. … I think he’s champing at the bit. And he wants to get going with his new coordinator [Marty Mornhinweg]. He’s all about competing. I got a really good feeling from Mark.”
What’s especially interesting about Idzik’s support is that he’s the one holding the purse strings — strings that are decidedly more twisted since former Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum gave Sanchez a ridiculous contract that ties him to the team. While Idzik has reason to stick with Sanchez and get the most of the money the Jets will have to pay him anyway, most people would think that a new general manager would at least be able to cut the guy loose if other members of the Jets organization couldn’t.
Then again, it’s early in his tenure, and Idzik may just be being diplomatic. He can’t show his cards too early if he’s hoping to flip Sanchez in a trade.
This Sanchez guy seems to be quite persuasive, though.
