Though New York Jets did look into the possibility of acquiring Peyton Manning, signing Mark Sanchez to a three-year extension (which means he's now signed for the next five years) takes the organization out of the Manning sweepstakes.
"As everyone knows, when Peyton Manning, a first ballot Hall-of-Famer became available, just like I do every day, and I'm committed to it, we looked into that possibility as someone to add to our team," general manager Mike Tannenbaum said Friday night during a press conference. "We looked at it, we had discussion internally. We've monitored the situation. But as events continued to unfold, we kept pushing the extension with Mark in terms of the negotiations with him and his representatives, and we're really excited where it ended, which is Mark is going to be our starting quarterback and has signed an extension for years to come."
Tannenbaum would not address how seriously the Jets pursued Manning, but said the Jets began discussing an extension with Sanchez's representatives three weeks ago.
"A highly competitive, highly talented person that winning football games is really important," Tannenbaum described Sanchez. "And I don't think it matters who the backup quarterback is. That's Mark's DNA. That's his constitution, and that's why we're excited about him, and that's why we were able to get this extension done."
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