Tim Tebow to New York Jets for Draft Picks: What Now for Mark Sanchez?

Tebow Time has moved to the east coast. Adjust your watches accordingly. 

The New York Jets traded for quarterback Tim Tebow from the Denver Broncos earlier today. The Broncos, already looking to turn the page to their new quarterback in Peyton Manning, were content to take two late-round picks, a forth- and a sixth-rounder, in this month's upcoming draft for Tebow. 

After the initial trade hit a snag after the Jets refused to pay back a $5 million advance on Tebow's salary from the Broncos, the Jacksonville Jaguars appeared to have matched the Jets' offer. Then, reportedly, Tebow was allowed to decide for which team, New York or Jacksonville, he could play. He chose the Jets.

First of all, the move is a steal for the Jets, who somehow outbid the other teams supposedly interested in Tebow. Could the Jaguars or Dolphins not have ponied up a third-rounder for one of the most popular (and indeed, divisive) superstars in the league?

It may have been that Broncos team president John Elway, who made it clear that Tebow was on his way out of Denver, didn't wait long enough to find out. It's Manning or Bust now for the Broncos. "There is no Plan B," Elway said during yesterday's press conference, and there certainly is no Plan B now.

As for the Jets, they may not even have a Plan A. When they signed Mark Sanchez to a five-year, $58.25 million extension earlier this month, it seemed that the organization was ready to rally around their young quarterback. The Tebow acquisition suggests the opposite.

The Jets know what they're getting with Tebow: an inflammatory media circus that will make the hot seat of their quarterback even hotter. Every Monday and Tuesday after Jets losses will bring calls for Tebow's Jets debut. The Jets know this and, it seems, are welcoming it.

Whether or not Tebow can produce in the system of new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano is irrelevant. A nationwide fanbase will be on Mark Sanchez if he plays some of the bad games that he did in 2011. Mark Brunell was never seen by the media as a legitimate threat to supplant Sanchez, and Tebow's acolytes have already run one quarterback off his team. Isn't that right, Kyle Orton?

And that's a burden that Sanchez should learn to be comfortable bearing, if he wants to think of himself as an NFL quarterback. One could argue that the weakest link in the Jets' proverbial chain lies at the quarterback position, and reports of Sanchez's work ethic have done nothing to dispel that.

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall when Sanchez caught this news. I'm sure he'll study his playbook more tonight than he has all month.

Tebow will bring his own special brand of sunshine and rainbows to the Jets' locker room, and that alone makes him worth a fourth-rounder. And Sanchez will either flourish under the pressure or prove to the league that he can't cut it. Either way, good for the Jets.