Is Mark Sanchez a Bust?

Is it too early for this article? Maybe so. However, there may be serious concerns over your quarterback if you are a fan or supporter of the NY Jets right now.

Before the NFL Draft, many were very wary of Sanchez’s lack of experience in college and questioned if he would be a round one pick. Nonetheless the NY Jets went ahead and traded the Browns a kings ransom for the rights to draft the former USC Quarterback and from that moment on there has been a lot of hype and pressure around the 23 year old.

Last year Mark Sanchez was able to lead the Jets to the AFC championship game thanks to the good graces of the Indianapolis Colts who decided to take the last few games of the season off. The Jets won playoff games playing great defense, and getting a late burst from runner Shonn Greene. In a way, one could say that the Jets won in the playoffs in spite of their rookie Quarterback.

All stats and lack of experience aside, there is a ton of pressure on Sanchez to lead the team to a Super Bowl this year. But the question remains, he is good enough?

Let’s look at the stats.

Last season Sanchez appeared in 15 games. He went 196 for 364 attempts, 2444 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 20 interceptions; which netted him a 63.0 QB rating.

Monday against the Ravens Sanchez went 10 for 21 attempts, 74 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions; which netted him a 56.4 QB rating.

Those numbers are eerily similar to me. But let’s compare those numbers to the guy who went #1 in Sanchez’s draft class: Matt Stafford.

Last year Stafford went 201 for 377 attempts, 2267 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 20 interceptions; which netted him a 61.0 QB rating while appearing in 5 less games than Sanchez.

The numbers between the #1 overall pick and Sanchez are almost identical though Stafford played in a third less games than Sanchez. But all in all, if you are going to compare him with his peers Mark isn’t doing too bad.

So is he a bust? Not exactly. The numbers he put up were almost the exact same as the number one pick.

To call Sanchez a bust, you pretty much have to call Stafford a Jamarcus Russell level failure, which clearly isn’t the case. Mark Sanchez is a mediocre quarterback right now by anyone’s definition but he has time on his side. It is just the question of how much of that time will be given to him to continue to develop as the Jets’ starter.