Counting the playoffs, Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has 68 career starts in the NFL. And he still makes rookie mistakes.
That’s the word from Ron Jaworski, the former Eagles quarterback and current ESPN analyst who is breaking down all of the league’s starting quarterbacks. In his assessment of Sanchez, Jaworski said that he has seen no improvement at all in Sanchez’s decision-making.
“The bottom line is Sanchez continues to make too many throws that a quarterback with his experience level should not make,” Jaworski said. “Sanchez is clearly trending downward in my evaluations. He has started 68 games in his NFL career, including the playoffs. The question now is whether he has what it takes to be a quality NFL starter. He has much to prove and a lot of work to do.”
Sanchez heard the boos all year from Jets fans, and Jaworski knows where they’re coming from.
“I was very disappointed in the overall play,” Jaworski said. “I believed Mark Sanchez entering his fourth season would improve. Instead, he regressed; his limitations further exposed. There’s only one way Sanchez can be successful as an NFL starter. That’s as a complementary piece in an offense whose foundation is a consistent running game. What does that mean? It means Sanchez’s ceiling is that of a mid-level starter, nothing more. He can only function as a system quarterback, in which his passing limitations can be minimized.”
The Jets’ choices at quarterback this season may be a rookie quarterback in Geno Smith, or a fifth-year quarterback who still makes rookie mistakes in Sanchez.