Since the New York Jets see no value in bringing in a mentor for the struggling Mark Sanchez, it looks like former New York Giant great Phil Simms sees potential in this USC standout.

The former Super Bowl MVP, and a first round draft pick himself in 1979, sees plenty of upside in the rookie and that's a good thing for a player in an organization as dysfunctional as the New York Jets.

Simms is not only a great evaluator of talent, but has a son in the NFL and understands the rigors and trials of becoming a successful starting quarterback in the National Football League.

Thirty years ago Phil Simms was an unknown college quarterback from Moorehead State who swelled into the first round when the San Francisco 49ers worked him out, and even considered passing on a guy named Joe Montana from Notre Dame to get the services of this injured prone kid from Kentucky.

But New York made Phil Simms the seventh pick, and he led the Giants to a 6-4 record as a starter passing for 1,743 yards, and 13 TDs, and 14 INTs in 1979.

Between 1979 and 1983 several injuries, and a lack of confidence by a new head coach named Bill Parcells, saw Simms go the bench in 1983 where he would stay til the sixth game of the season when he found himself in an annual competition for the starting job with Scott Brunner.

Simms would finally wrest the job from Brunner once and for all in 1984, as Simms tossed for over 4,000 yards with 22 TDs as the Giants got back to the playoffs and began their march as a dominant force in the NFC along with the Niners, Redskins, and Bears.

Simms solidified himself in the eyes of Parcells and the organization as a great quarterback with his 22-25 performance in Super Bowl 21, when he outgunned the great John Elway of the Denver Broncos for the first of two Super Bowl rings in his fourteen year career with Big Blue.

Phil Simms finished his career with 95-64 record as a starter and a .597 winning percentage, which should be good enough for a call from Canton sometime in his future.

Phil Simms has gone on to be one of the game's better color analysts with CBS and a featured motivational speaker and author. If Mark Sanchez can be half of the talent, individual, and leader of former Giant great Phil Simms, his career will be a bright one.