A variety of reports and comments have emerged in the past day or so regarding the shoulder of Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. Taken together, the situation doesn’t make sense.
Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported on Wednesday that Sanchez has a torn labrum in his shoulder, and that surgery is likely. But Sanchez is still mulling the situation, and he may opt for rehab over surgery.
Rehab apparently won’t prevent surgery, just delay it. We think. During halftime of the Jets-Patriots game, the gist of the explanation from Ian Rapoport and Mike Silver of NFL Network was that Sanchez wants to rehab, that we’ll know more in the next couple of weeks whether it’s working, and that if Sanchez waits to have surgery until after the season he’ll spend four-to-six months rehabbing the shoulder.
If that’s all true, why in the hell would Sanchez wait to have surgery? To the extent he’s saying he wants to wait, we think he’s merely choosing to be perceived a good employee/teammate pending a more conclusive opinion that surgery is needed sooner than later.
There’s no reason to wait. The decision to make Sanchez play during garbage time of a preseason game caused or aggravated the injury. He’s getting $8.25 million whether he’s on team or not on the team or on injured reserve. The Jets clearly are committed to Geno Smith. Sanchez needs to maximize his chances of landing in a favorable spot next year. Waiting to get surgery after the season won’t do that.
If Andrews decides surgery is necessary, Sanchez needs to have the surgery. Period. (Actually, exclamation point.) He can delay it a couple of weeks to avoid the impression he’s taking the money and shutting it down, but no one could legitimately blame him if he does.
It’s surgery. If he needs it, he needs to get it. Especially since it’s now clear he’ll be looking for another team in 2014.