The New York Jets started the circus flame when they traded for Tim Tebow just over a year ago. Then, they fanned the flame some more.
In what essentially amounted to a very bad publicity stunt, owner Woody Johnson and former general manager Mike Tannenbaum put both Tebow and Mark Sanchez in a shoddy work environment by bringing in the most polarizing player in the NFL to "back up" the still-growing incumbent starter Sanchez. (photo: Marianne O'Leary, Flickr)
Neither player complained before or after the impending disaster commenced. Finally, however, one of the two injected a bit of reality into the madness of 2012, which saw ESPN post up through the entirety of Jets camp to chronicle everything Tebow.
“I just don’t know if it was the best situation for either of us, but you play with the cards you are dealt with and do the very best you can,” Sanchez told the Petros and Money radio show Friday, via the Star-Ledger.
Sanchez was spot-on.
Sure, ESPN created the Tebow spectacle by their extreme over-coverage of the former Florida Gator when he was in Denver, but the Jets aggravated the thing by not only acquiring him for non-football reasons, but putting him front and center in regular press conferences and welcoming (or begging) any and all attention throughout the year.
Tebow doesn't have a place on the Jets' quarterback depth chart, and even ESPN has probably grown tired of it (imagine that), so it's hard to think he'll make it to training camp, especially under new GM John Idzik.
But we'll see.