Tim Tebow to Jets: Trading for Tebow Puts Unnecessary Pressure on Mark Sanchez

Mark Sanchez was already entering the most important season of his NFL career. The last thing he needed was more pressure on his shoulders. But that's exactly what he'll have now that the New York Jets have acquired Tim Tebow from the Denver Broncos.

Update: Adam Schefter reported Tebow's contract could lead trade to get called off. The two sides eventually came to an agreement, with the Jets also receiving a seventh-round draft pick and the Broncos getting a fourth- and a sixth-round pick for Tebow.

Sanchez garnered most of the blame for New York's three-game losing streak to end last season, which caused the Jets to miss the playoffs. In reality, it was a team-wide failure, but he was an easy target for ruthless New York media members.

His quarterback rating has increased in each of his three years at the helm despite lackluster weapons for most of the time. Other than Santonio Holmes, Sanchez has been throwing to a bunch of overrated or unproven targets.

He's not an elite quarterback, and he never will be barring some type of miracle, but he's proven time and again that he can direct an offense well enough to win a lot of football games, including in the postseason, if his teammates give him enough support.

The USC product deserved another full season to illustrate whether or not he is New York's quarterback of the future. He's unlikely to get that with Tebow in town, because fans will probably be calling for a change if Sanchez misses a training camp pass. That's the nature of the beast in New York.

Now he'll need to be looking behind him every step of the way. Sanchez is smart enough to understand this trade means the team isn't exactly thrilled with him leading the way, even though they did recently reward him with an extension.

What should bother him more than anything else, however, is that the quarterback New York's front office brought in is actually worse than him. Tebow hasn't shown any signs of becoming a serviceable passer, completing less than 50 percent of his passes so far.

While Sanchez's chances of being the Jets long-term starter were low, Tebow's are even lower. Talking heads in New York will talk up his intangibles, causing “Timsanity” to erupt, but he's nothing more than a gimmick quarterback.

Trading for Tebow can't be viewed as a motivational tactic either. If the Jets wanted to provide competition for Sanchez, they should have chased a player with a larger track record of success. Not a media-driven phenom.

Sanchez has never been given a fair shake by the Jets, and bringing in Tebow is just another vote of no confidence by the front office. He has to be wondering how his career would have turned out if his surroundings weren't so volatile.

Instead, he's forced to fight for his job with Tebow, who will likely receive a lion's share of the public support. That means Sanchez will need an extraordinary effort just to keep his job for all 17 weeks.

As if he needed anything else to worry about heading into next season.