After a disappointing 2011 season which ended with three straight losses, the Santonio Holmes theatrics in the final game left a bad taste in all Jets fans mouths, especially after back-to-back AFC Championship appearances.<\/p>\n
Quarterback Mark Sanchez led the Jets in his first two seasons, since being drafted in 2009, to those championship game appearances with an 11-5 regular season record in 2010.\u00a0 Going into the 2011 season the Jets team was not as talented during Sanchez’s first two years, so it was on Sanchez to take the next step and develop into the franchise quarterback the Jets traded up to draft 5th<\/sup> overall.<\/p>\n Unfortunately Sanchez\u2019s play seemed to remain inconsistent and his overall statistics did not necessarily instill confidence that he would develop as needed but given his past record most felt Sanchez had earned one more year to prove he could be \u201cthe man\u201d moving forward.<\/p>\n Sanchez was heading<\/a> into the fourth year of his five year rookie contract.\u00a0 A vast majority of the salary remaining in his rookie deal was not guaranteed, especially the final year (2013) leaving the option open to release Sanchez if the organization felt that would be necessary.<\/p>\n After flirting with Peyton Manning for about 5 minutes the Jets decided to give Sanchez a contract extension guaranteeing his 2012 and 13 salary.\u00a0 Thought this was a bad decision<\/a> at the time as Sanchez did not deserve the vote of confidence given his 2011 season.\u00a0 Some will argue the Jets needed salary cap relief and got it by giving Sanchez this contract.<\/p>\n The fact is the Jets saved<\/a> $6.4 million on the 2012 salary cap but pushed lots of salary into future caps and made it impossible to release Sanchez, no matter how bad he was, in 2013.\u00a0 The Jets are currently<\/a> $5.9 million under the cap so even if they never changed Sanchez\u2019s contract given that Mike Tannenbaum is a \u201ccap genius\u201d he could have found enough space, because they didn\u2019t need $6.4 million, and would not have increased <\/a>the 2013 cap-hit $4.35 million for Sanchez.<\/p>\n The Jets then trade<\/a> for quarterback Tim Tebow trading <\/a>recently signed backup Drew Stanton away to the Colts.\u00a0 The theory was Tebow would be a change of pace quarterback and would push Sanchez since he was a potential threat to take Sanchez starting job.\u00a0 Just wonder if Sanchez would be more motivated by possible being released after the season, receiving no additional money, or having a guaranteed salary with Tebow at his heels?<\/p>\n The Jets agreed<\/a> to pick up $2.5 million of Tebow\u2019s salary which had been advanced by the Broncos along with his remaining base season salary.\u00a0 Thus far Tebow hasn\u2019t done much and Sanchez is completing<\/a> 49% of his passes, so it doesn\u2019t look like he is taking the next step.<\/p>\n Given the teams injuries, if Sanchez continues to play poorly, and even if Tebow gets a chance to start, what if the Jets end up with a top ten draft pick?\u00a0 Do the Jets use their first round draft pick on a quarterback prospect?\u00a0 If they do what happens with Sanchez\/Tebow?<\/p>\n The assumption is the Jets draft a prospect who’s a pro-style\/drop-back quarterback, unlike Tebow.\u00a0 The Jets might decide, like the Broncos did, that they do not want to risk building an offensive system around Tebow\u2019s strengths.\u00a0 This is not whether Tebow can or can\u2019t succeed but the fact is he requires certain types of personnel, which has a different skill set then usual offenses, and a team will need to commit to build around him.<\/p>\n