Although the New York Jets are expected to release Mark Sanchez in March, the quarterback is unlikely to stay a free agent for long. At least one NFL executive believes Sanchez will be starting under center for a new team in 2014, the New York Post reports.
After committing 52 turnovers between 2011 and 2012, many believe Sanchez would have been cut last summer if his contract didn't guarantee his salary for the 2013 season. With quarterbacks Geno Smith and Matt Simms on the roster, it seems a foregone conclusion Sanchez will get cut before his March $2 million roster bonus is due, ultimately saving the Jets $8.3 million in salary cap room.
Sanchez, however, is expected to quickly find a new team.
"One coach of a quarterback-needy team said his team already has discussed Sanchez internally as an option to be its starting quarterback in 2014," Brian Costello of The Post wrote on Tuesday.
"We'd take Sanchez," the coach told Costello. "He'd be the starter as soon as he walked in the door for us."
An NFL executive also doesn't believe Sanchez will be on the market for long, citing the "supply and demand" of signal callers in a pass-first league.
Although Sanchez doesn't appear to have a part in general manager John Idzik's plan for the Jets, Idzik declined to elaborate on the 27-year-old's future.
"We'll get to that in time," Idzik said last month during the Jets' season-ending press conference. "He is a Jet. We consider all our guys Jets until we make a decision or something happens that changes that. So with Mark, I met with him yesterday as well, our focus is to get him healthy, just as it has been really the entire season and then we'll take it from there."
Sanchez underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in October should be ready in time to participate in offseason programs.
