New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez was shredded by several anonymous teammates and members of the Jets' organization in an explosive article posted Wednesday by Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. Many of those same sources called for the team to dump Sanchez and trade for Indianapolis Colts star quarterback Peyton Manning.
Sanchez was called "lazy and content" by one teammate.
One Jets source said it was a "no-brainer" and that the Jets were "stupid" if they didn't try to replace Sanchez with Manning.
Another teammate said Sanchez is "not improving at all."
A Jets source said Sanchez was "making one stupid throw and one stupid mistake after another."
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Mehta quoted one player as saying of the organization's policy toward Sanchez "They don't want to be truthful with him. They treat him like a baby instead of a man. He goes in a hole when someone tells him the truth."
The anonymous nature of the sources drew the ire of the Jets blogosphere, or at least one corner of it.
Caporoso went on to hazard a guess that Mehta's anonymous sources included Bart Scott, Antonio Cromartie and possibly Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress.
That guess could be entirely accurate since it is likely none of those players will be Jets next season. Another possibility is LaDainian Tomlinson, who was critical of Holmes when the season ended and has admitted he is strongly considering retirement.
Thing is, does it really matter who said it? As the saying goes, where there is smoke there is fire.
Whether the guys who said it are players who are on their way out the door or not it is pretty obvious that Sanchez does not have the support of the locker room, and some corners of the organization. You have to believe there are other players who feel the same way, but either are not comfortable talking about it or weren't asked.
I recently wrote about the possibility of Manning to the Jets, and came down in favor of the move:
If the Jets are serious about winning that Super Bowl Ryan always talks about, though, it would be foolish for them not to at least gauge what it might take to convince the Colts to make New York a two-Manning town.
Maybe it will be Manning. Maybe it will be another veteran quarterback. Maybe the Jets will be bold and make a move in the draft for someone like Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III. That's all just pure speculation and we will see what happens over the next few months.
One thing is becoming increasingly obvious, though. It is becoming hard to imagine the Jets moving forward with Sanchez as their quarterback.