Mark Sanchez gets multi-year extension from N.Y. Jets

Here is the good news for Mark Sanchez: he is getting an extension.

Here is the bad news for all Jets fans on the Planet Earth: Mark Sanchez is getting an extension.

It was reported late Friday night that maligned quarterback Mark Sanchez has received a three year extension from the Jets that will keep him in green and white through the 2015 season, according to multiple accounts. Sanchez will earn $27 million guaranteed over the next two years, which were originally the final years of his rookie contract. He will make $58 million over the course of the contract.

After contacting and not hearing from Peyton Manning, the Jets felt obligated to try to patch up their relationship with the sensitive Sanchez with what many believe represents an undeserved extension.

Said GM Mike Tannenbaum, "Taking the long view of things, we're excited and encouraged at the trajectory of Mark's career." That trajectory is no ascent or even a bell curve but more a plumb line to the center of Middle Earth.

Sanchez regressed so much in his third year as the Jets starting quarterback that it left many of his teammates squabbling about whether he should be the starter. It just goes to show that turning the ball over 26 times and looking like a lost fawn, can garner millions in cash.

Maybe Sanchez should turn the ball over 32 times next year, so he can get a brand new six-year extension, as in "Pick-6," and I don't mean a lottery ticket.

It was one thing to strike out on Peyton Manning. Nobody expected Manning to come to New York to play in his brother's town. But for the Jets to ignore the fact and forget the fact that Mark Sanchez has done nothing to prove that he is the leader of this team, let alone its franchise quarterback, is a mistake that they will live to regret.

So let's say that Manning does sign with the Dolphins. What does that make the Jets? Third best in their own division, if lucky.

Sanchez is the Teflon quarterback. He has teammates that aren't fond of his performance, and fans that are beginning to see him for what he is, yet he finds ways to keep his starting job without a single challenge from someone who might be better.

With this extension Jets fans, and Jets wide receivers for that matter, can forget about the Gang Green front office signing a solid quarterback to challenge for the starting job; this signing means that it will not happen. Sanchez is the Jets starter, through thick and thin, whether Jets fans like it or not.