Mark Sanchez's future with the New York Jets just got a little brighter. On Wednesday quarterback David Garrard announced his retirement saying that he would no longer be playing for the Jets. He released a statement saying his knee was continuing to swell and he was going to have to call it quits. Now, the Jets quarterback competition is down to four players. With one less guy on the roster, Sanchez can breathe a bit easier.
Sanchez's future was up in the air already after the team drafted Geno Smith in the second round. New York had been saying they were looking to drive the quarterback competition up and selecting Smith that high means the Jets might not consider Sanchez to be the future of the franchise.
Peter King of SI.com reported that if Garrard could stay healthy until the regular season, the Jets would likely dump Sanchez either by releasing him or trading him. Sanchez will be owed $8 million in guaranteed money, but the Jets would be willing to eat most of that if it meant they had two better quarterbacks in place. If they can work out a trade with another team, they might be able to cut that money in half, but at this point, Sanchez might not have too many suitors. The team is smart to hold on to the quarterback for at least one more year in case of any more injuries.
Now with Garrard off the books, the Jets will likely keep Sanchez on and continue the competition with four players, including Greg McElroy and Matt Sims. Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said on Wednesday that he is hoping the competition ends quickly and a true starter emerges during the early OTA sessions. The Jets would like to get a depth chart in place quickly so they can begin to establish a rhythm on offense.
The starting job will likely now be down to just Sanchez and Smith. The two quarterbacks have yet to share a practice field, but Smith is already saying that he is ready to compete for the job.
"He's a guy I'm going to be in competition with but at the same time I'm going to learn from. He's professional, he's done it for several years. He's carried himself well in my opinion," Smith said.
As the Jets are in a year of slight transition, the quarterback job is truly anyone's game. As Garrard says goodbye to a lengthy career, he only intensifies things at the Jet's facilities.
