NFL

Mark’s only move is to get this done

After playing 15 of 16 regular- season games and leading the Jets to the AFC Championship game, quarterback Mark Sanchez is poised to make his first important call of the offseason: whether to undergo elective knee surgery. It’s not my knee, but my guess is he’ll have the surgery — or at least that he should.

Still, the initial uncertainty over whether Sanchez needs work on his right knee, left knee or neither knee cast an ominous cloud on what should have been a feel-good postseason wrap-up by Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum yesterday at the team’s practice facility.

Although Tannenbaum tried to characterize the possible procedure by saying “it won’t be anything significant,” everything is significant when it comes to the health of the Jets’ franchise quarterback.

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Clearly, Sanchez has some measure of uneasiness about the whole deal or Tannenbaum wouldn’t have tap-danced around the issue to the point at which reporters were comparing the handling of Sanchez’s knees to the way the Mets dealt with Carlos Beltran.

It took less than a month for the Mets to ruin the optimism their fans had for the upcoming season when it was announced Beltran underwent knee surgery without the team’s blessing and each side was blaming the other. For a minute it sounded as if Tannenbaum was creating a similar “Oh no!” scenario when asked about Sanchez’s visit to Birmingham, Ala., to be examined by Dr. James Andrews.

It was assumed the focus of concern was the sprained posterior cruciate ligament in Sanchez’s right knee, an injury he suffered against the Bills on Dec. 3. But Tannenbaum hinted Sanchez’s left knee, which suffered a dislocation of the patellar tendon in college, might need a procedure. The GM was clear that only one knee would be worked on and that Sanchez will be 100 percent for training camp.

“Nothing’s been decided between which one would have the procedure between the left and right,” Tannenbaum said, confusing just about everyone. Later he added, “We’ve had a lot of conversation. We’re on the same side of the table. The big picture is he’s going to be fine. His knees are going to be great and he’ll be ready to go well before camp.”

Tannenbaum later clarified that the Jets and Dr. Andrews are advising Sanchez to have surgery to strengthen the ligaments around his left kneecap for more stability, while the right knee can heal through rehab. It’s Sanchez’s call whether to have the surgery. Tannenbaum was trying to not say too much in front of the cameras in order not to appear pushy.

That’s understandable as long as Sanchez does the right thing and gets his left knee fixed. He wound up the season wearing two knee braces in the AFC Championship game and though they didn’t seem to hinder his mobility, wearing two knee braces at age 23 doesn’t exactly heighten expectations for a long-term career. It seems that if the Jets medical staff and Dr. Andrews have the same prognosis, it’s in Sanchez’s best interests to follow their advice.

The only drawback to having any procedure is how much it will cut into Sanchez’s offseason workouts, whether they be improving on his mechanics on hiw own or throwing to Jets receivers during organized team activities. “You don’t want to have anybody miss any time, especially a young quarterback,” Tannenbaum conceded.

Sanchez is too valuable to be vulnerable. In many ways he enjoyed a charmed rookie season. He got his team into the playoffs, where he won two games on the road. He remained humble and deferred to veterans and coaches. There was no big-time in his demeanor. This is no time to ignore the wishes of the Jets and Dr. Andrews’ second opinion and wait for something serious to happen to his unstable kneecap.

george.willis@nypost.com