One day after the Jets made a significant statement in making quarterback Mark Sanchez the highest-paid player in franchise history, Sanchez left everyone wanting more.
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On the final drive of the final minicamp practice, the last time the full team would be together until training camp at the end of the July, the Jets’ No. 1 draft pick wowed everyone yesterday with his finest stretch of play to date.
Sanchez looked commanding while completing consecutive passes to wide receiver David Clowney on that last drive and then connecting with Wallace Wright with an impressive touchdown pass.
“It was the most confident I’ve felt,” Sanchez said. “I just let myself go. My cadence and voice inflection was louder. It was the last day of camp and I let it all out. Guys made great catches on the drive and up front [on the offensive line] I had [it] all day.”
Sanchez said his performance on that last drive, during which he was 5-for-5, was a statement as the players head into their long break before training camp begins.
“Other guys notice, and I think that’s important,” he said. “They notice when you throw interceptions and when you lead the team down the field. It was a good way to end.”
Sanchez said he felt encouraged with the organized team activities and this three-day minicamp that ended.
“I improved with each practice,” he said. “I responded well to mistakes I made. After every mistake, I either made a good play or did something positive. I think I responded pretty well. It was great for me to get all these reps.”
Sanchez said he has learned to not take too much on himself.
“When things get tough, when I throw some interceptions, I step back and relax and realize, ‘You worked your whole life to be here. They drafted you for a reason. You don’t have to do it all.’ We have so much talent here, I can let them many plays and relax.”
After practice, Rex Ryan said he was impressed with Sanchez’s performance.
“Wow,” he said. “What a day. It was neat to see that last drive. I wanted [practice] to end earlier, but he was on such a roll.”
Ryan said he felt good about Kellen Clemens, too, not giving any indication publicly that Sanchez was a lock to win the starting job. But it’s pretty clear to everyone who’s watching that it’s Sanchez’s job to lose, and Clemens is going to have to win the job by knockout.
“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Ryan said of the quarterback competition. “When it become obvious to us that’s when we’ll make the decision. You’d prefer it to be sooner rather than later, but I don’t see that happening.”
Sanchez got almost as much ribbing from his teammates about the five-year, $50 million contract he signed on Wednesday as he did for his steamy GQ magazine photo shoot that came out last month.
“Guys were going around sniffing and saying, ‘Smells like money,’ ” Sanchez said.
Ryan said Sanchez was bummed out about the way he performed Wednesday, making yesterday even more special.
“The neat thing was to see the way he responded,” Ryan said. “He wanted to come back [yesterday]. He couldn’t wait to get here so he had the opportunity to compete. He wanted to finish this thing out.”
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Ryan had high praise for LB Marques Murrell, the younger brother of former Jets RB Adrian Murrell.
“Murrell has stood out the most to me on defense,” Ryan said. “We moved him to [strong side] linebacker, and he’s using his hands well and working on his pass rush. He’s really taking off. I never knew a lot about him, but, man, he’s impressive.”
Ryan also said WR Wallace Wright was a minicamp standout.
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Another player who made big-time plays in recent practices was safety Eric Smith, who had three interceptions in Wednesday’s practices and had another yesterday, picking off Sanchez, though he pulled his right hamstring doing it.
“He’s questionable for the softball tournament or whatever he’s got going on,” Ryan said jokingly.
Ryan went as far as to compare Smith with Ed Reed, the star safety he coached in Baltimore.