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Since retiring from the NFL back in 2018, former New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has found a second life in his post-football playing career.
He has made routine appearances on national sports talk shows, has called some college football games, and now he is headed to the USFL.
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Comeback Season?
No not for a comeback, his playing days are long behind him, but Sanchez will be calling games for the new league that officially gets underway on Saturday, April 16.
The first and only game on the docket will feature the New Jersey Generals facing off against the Birmingham Stallions.
Sanchez will be a key part of Fox Sports’ No. 2 USFL broadcast team along with Kevin Kugler and Brock Huard.
The United States Football League was originally founded back in 1982 and ran for three seasons before operations were ceased.
Fast forward 36 years later and the league has been re-born. It will feature a 10-week regular season, a full playoff schedule, and a championship game.
The new-look USFL will have a variety of new twists from mic’d up players, to drone cameras, and helmet cams. You can read more about the rules, regulations, and additional information from Kevin Seifert of ESPN.
Remembering Better Times
It is hard to believe that the Jets haven’t been to the playoffs since Sanchez was holding down the fort as the starting quarterback.
It seems like another lifetime ago in many respects and now this current crop of Jets is trying to get back there.
The foundation for that success over a decade ago was built on a strong running game, stifling defense, and a quarterback that didn’t screw it all up.
Although during that maturation process, there were certainly moments where Sanchez rose well above those minimal expectations and delivered some wow throws in the playoffs. He was a key part of both of those conference championship trips.
Now over 11 years later, the Jets don’t have that same luxury with a 27th ranked rushing attack (2021) and a defense that gave up the most points in the league last season (504 points).
This is an adapt-or-die kind of world and football has changed over that span of time. This is a passing league and the success or failure of a team is often determined by the ceiling of its starting quarterback.
That is why the Jets selected Zach Wilson with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft. They weren’t trying to find a game manager, Gang Green was searching for a franchise quarterback that had an unbelievable ceiling.
Now the task of the green and white this offseason is to surround him with as much talent as possible to maximize those ceiling projections. They have done a solid job so far in free agency, but what happens in the 2022 NFL draft will set the stage for what is to come this fall.
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