Eric Mangini may no longer be the Jets coach, but he still managed to do them a solid on Draft Day.
Mangini, now the coach of the Cleveland Browns, traded the No. 5 pick in the NFL Draft to the Jets, who used it to select USC quarterback Mark Sanchez.
Watching the proceedings from California, Sanchez received a phone call from Jets GM Mike Tanenbaum. He immediately put on a Jets baseball cap just before NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the pick, and the Jets fans at Radio City Music Hall let out a mix of cheers and boos.
The 6-foot-2, 228-pound Sanchez makes perfect sense for the Jets, who are desperately in need of a marquee quarterback after Brett Favre retired in the wake of last season’s failure to make the playoffs.
“It’s the right place and it’s pretty special. I’m glad the family’s around,” Sanchez told ESPN. “I just felt so comfortable with their coaching staff. I love what Coach [Rex] Ryan’s doing on the defensive end and that’s what I’m used to, coming from SC with Coach [Pete] Carroll being a defensive-minded coach. A good defense and a solid running game like they have, that’s a quarterback’s best friend. And then that front offensive line look’s great already, so I can’t wait to meet that team.”
Sanchez threw for 3,965 passing yards and 41 TDs in 16 starts at Southern Cal. He will compete with Kellen Clemens, who shares the same agent as Sanchez.
“I met him before and he’s a great guy,” Sanchez said. “It’s going to be a competition and it’s going to be fun for both of us. In a quarterback competition only one guy can play. It’s different than other positions. But we’re used to that kind of stuff and we’re pros so we’ll handle it like that.”
In return for the pick, the Browns got a 2009 1st round pick (17th overall); a 2009 2nd-round pick; DE Kenyon Coleman; QB Brett Ratliff; and DB Abram Elam.
