Following an injury that he suffered in the preseason, New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is ‘likely’ to have season-ending surgery according to multiple reports. Sanchez will need surgery to repair a tear in his shoulder and would then be out for the rest of the season. With the injury and quarterback Geno Smith on board, that could effectively signal the end of Sanchez’ career in New York.
The news likely won’t disturb a good portion of the Jets’ fan base that are opposed to him playing for their team anyway. However, the surgery could be bad for the franchise over the course of the season. Smith may have been impressive enough in training camp and the preseason, but the fact remains that he’s still only a rookie.
Smith was solid in his debut against Tampa Bay last weekend, but will still make his share of mistakes this season. If the Jets decide he needs a benching, they’d need to turn to the inexperienced Matt Simms or the wildly underachieving Brady Quinn. Neither is an attractive option and losing Sanchez hurts the team’s depth at the position.
There’s been some talk that Sanchez could actually delay the surgery, but really, how wise would that be given more than a nanosecond of thought? Unless Smith struggles or suffers an injury this year, he wasn’t likely to play. He would then not only be playing the season hurt, but then need the surgery at the end of the year and miss part (or much) of next season for another team assuming the Jets don’t bring him back.
In other words, there’s a very good chance this is the end of the Mark Sanchez era in New York.
Editor’s Note: After this article was written, Mark Sanchez told NFL Network’s Rich Eisen that he plans to rehab his shoulder rather than have surgery so that he can get back the job he felt he won in preseason.
