A Franchise QB: Looking Ahead

Before the season began, Jets fans could not come to a consensus over Mark Sanchez being their franchise quarterback. This season, by all accounts, has been a continuation of last years let down. Sanchez has played poorly and Jets fans are fed up with the mediocrity. The trade for Tim Tebow, as we have learned, was a publicity stunt gone sour. As the end of the season draws near, with the Jets seemingly out of the playoff picture, the question moving forward for the organization will be—who will be the QB of the future?

To the dismay of all New York Jets fans, this years NFL draft class will not feature any Andrew Lucks, RG3’s, or even Ryan Tannehill caliber quarterbacks. If the Jets see fit to do so, they can pursue USC quarterback Matt Markley, or West Virginia's Geno Smith as their future, although something tells me the results probably would be similar to the Sanchez experiment.

That said, its no secret that the Jets must move in a different direction. In his fourth year Mark Sanchez is still making careless mistakes with the football, that at this point, are intolerable. He hasn’t proven to the fan base, NFL analyst, and for that matter, the organization, that he is capable of leading this team to a championship.

In the months preceding this season, the media compared Mark Sanchez’s career to that of Giants quarterback Eli Manning. Manning was dreadful at times in his first three years for big blue. He was able turn it around in year four, leading the Giants to their first Superbowl victory since LT and Parcells. It was my presumption that Sanchez deserved this year to prove his worth to the organization. He has proven nothing! Fielding Sanchez as the starter in next season’s opener will only agitate the remaining Jets fans. Sanchez had his chance, its time for this organization to cut their losses and find a quarterback that will get the job done!

Now… it would be absolutely foolish of me to say that the Jets are going to see the next coming of Peyton Manning fall into their lap (probably not going to happen). But I will say that several, benched, signal callers have caught my attention as potential replacements for California Boy wonder Marky, Mark Sanchise (little bit of a low blow).

And here they are:

Alex Smith: In my opinion, Jim Harbaugh was waiting for his opportunity to start Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick was his draft choice, unlike Smith who was adopted by Harbargh like a red headed step child. Harbargh will move forward with Kaepernick in my opinion, opening up the door for the Jets (and others) to take a look at Smith. Smith has done nothing but win games the past two years and I believe he has come into his own as a starter in this league. He doesn't have the huge, Jay Cutler are strength, but he can make throws and put a team in a position to win.

Matt Flynn: Although Matt Flynn was beaten out of the starting quarterback spot by Russell Wilson, I still believe he can come in and produce. Flynn is talented and would certainly be an upgrade. I understand his body of work doesn’t speak volumes, but lets face it, his minimal starting QB resume and 92.8% career completion percentage is intriguing, especially when looked at in comparison to Sanchez’s career numbers.