Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said he doesn’t think it will take long for Jets fans to start chanting Tim Tebow’s name.
“First preseason game,” Roethlisberger said Tuesday.
And the two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback said that is going to be hard on current Jets starter Mark Sanchez, no matter what Sanchez says.
“I feel bad for him,” Roethlisberger told The Post at the unveiling of the new Nike NFL uniforms in Brooklyn. “It’s going to be tough.”
Roethlisberger said that a bunch of the players gathered for yesterday’s event were discussing the Jets’ trade for Tebow and how difficult it will be for Sanchez.
“[Tebow is] going to be the most popular guy in the city,” Roethlisberger said.
Roethlisberger was not the only player who believes Tebow’s presence will give Sanchez a big challenge.
Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey witnessed Tebowmania as a teammate the past two years. He said he thinks Sanchez needs to be looking over his shoulder because Tebow won’t be satisfied being a backup.
“He’s going to challenge [for the starting job], absolutely,” Bailey said. “Sanchez can’t be too comfortable in his seat. He’s just got to keep playing, play well and he doesn’t have to worry about it. But if he doesn’t play well we all know what’s going to happen next.”
Bailey said he believes Tebow’s popularity is only going to grow in New York, and the veteran said the Jets likely have no idea what is coming.
“I [have] never seen anything like it,” Bailey said. “I played with Deion Sanders, who was one of the most popular guys to play, he didn’t have a fan base like that, not even close. Just to see a guy who hadn’t done anything much yet to have a fan base like that, it was crazy. It was hard to understand. The guy’s worth it because he works hard, he’s a great kid and I wish him all the best.”
Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin played with Tebow in college at Florida. As he heard all of the spin coming out of Florham Park over the past few weeks, Harvin said he has laughed to himself.
“The thing I love about Tebow is when I see him give interviews I know exactly what he’s talking about,” Harvin said. “For anybody to think he’s not going in there to win the starting job, you’re fooling yourself. Sanchez and those guys want to sit back and say how calm and cool and they’re not worried about it. Anybody other than Peyton Manning, Michael Vick, names like that, if you have Tebow coming to your team you have a situation.”
Jets running back Shonn Greene was the team’s representative at the event. He said he is not worried about Tebow’s effect on the team and said he believes Tebow and Sanchez will be able to coexist.
“Yeah, why not? Why wouldn’t they be able to?” Greene said. “Give the defense more pressure on them, give them different looks.”
The Jets have talked about using Tebow in a Wildcat package for as many as 20 plays a game. Roethlisberger said he doesn’t know how they will be able to do that and not completely disrupt Sanchez’s play.
“As a quarterback, you want to get into a rhythm,” Roethlisberger said. “You don’t want to come out of the game, go back in, come back out and go back in. You want to get into a rhythm and go and play your game. That’s usually how you play your best. I don’t know what they’re going to do. I’ve heard talk about 20 plays a game. That’s a third of the plays.
“If you’re Sanchez, it’s got to be a little frustrating. He’s a team guy and he’s going to do what’s best for the team, but it’s going to be hard for him to get into any kind of rhythm.”
brian.costello@nypost.com