PALM BEACH, Fla. — Jets coach Rex Ryan threw his weight behind Mark Sanchez Tuesday morning, but he did not let his starting quarterback weigh in on the decision to trade for Tim Tebow.
One day after the Jets introduced Tebow as the team’s backup quarterback, Ryan expressed his support for Sanchez, saying the quarterback would have received an extension regardless of who the team acquired.
“We’re hitching our wagon to Mark,” Ryan said at the NFL owners meetings.
Ryan remained adamant, saying the team absolutely was going to give Sanchez a three-year extension, which guarantees $20.5 million over the next two seasons, even if it already had traded for Tebow or signed Peyton Manning. Ryan said the plan had been in place since the NFL scouting combine in February.
“Even with Peyton Manning out there, we tried to get our quarterback signed to an extension way back then,” Ryan said. “Our No. 1 priority was to extend Mark Sanchez starting with the combine. I’m telling you guys the truth.”
But he also said that Sanchez was not consulted when the Jets traded a fourth- and sixth-round pick to the Broncos for Tebow and a seventh-rounder last Wednesday.
“Mark’s job is to play quarterback,” Ryan said. “It’s not to be the general manager. Our decisions are based on the team.”
Tebow’s arrival in New York immediately places increased pressure on Sanchez, who has had Mark Brunell serving as his backup for the past two seasons. The 41-year-old Brunell never posed a threat to take Sanchez’s starting job, completing eight passes in two seasons with the Jets. In the past two seasons, Ryan had given Brunell extra snaps during certain practice weeks to try and motivate Sanchez.
“I don’t think that was the true case,” Ryan said when asked if he felt Sanchez had gotten too comfortable.
“I will say I feel better about our quarterback situation now than since I’ve been here.”
After Tebow’s press conference at the Jets field house Monday, Sanchez held his own conference call with reporters and said that he was “not worried about losing my spot.” Ryan has confidence that Sanchez can handle the sideshow Tebow will bring with him from Denver to New York.
“I recognize it’s going to be much more than it would be for a lot of backup quarterbacks, but we’re always going to do what’s in the best interest of our football team,” Ryan said.
“I think Mark is going to ascend in this system. I thought he was getting better [last year], but there’s a few things we have to do. We’ve got to protect the football better. Mark knows he has to protect the football better. But I really think Mark is going to have an excellent year. I really do. He’s hitting Year Four, so I think it’s time for him to really ascend — and I think he will.”
But Ryan would not back down from his Sunday comments that Tebow and the Wildcat could see up to 20 snaps a game.
“The great thing is, I’m absolutely putting it out there,” he said. “What’s under the radar is the preparation [it causes opponents]. Nobody really knows the kind of preparation it takes to get ready for this. Nobody wants to be embarrassed by this thing. When that thing pops, it’s hard to defend. It really is. You have to be prepared like crazy for it.”
But don’t expect the quarterbacks to be shuffled in and out on the same possession.
“It’s not going to be Tebow coming in on a second down,” Ryan said. “The great thing is, nobody has any idea how many snaps it’s going to be. So you’d better be prepared for it.”
Neither Sanchez nor Tebow should have to worry about third-string QB Greg McElroy, who Ryan said is “still in [the] doghouse” following his locker room comments last month. The second-year quarterback out of Alabama called some of his teammates “selfish individuals” and that “people within our locker room that didn’t care whether we won or lost as long as they got theirs.”
“Obviously, he made a statement I wish he wouldn’t have made,” Ryan said. “He’s still in my doghouse. But I’m excited about him. This is a young guy that can develop, also.”