Tim Tebow Jets: GM's Insistence Doesn't Convince Anyone Tebow Will Be the Backup

No matter how vehemently Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum insists that Tim Tebow came to New York to be Mark Sanchez's backup, no one is buying it, and once the season starts, the fans won't either.

The Jets' situation right now is just bizarre.

The team flew its newly anointed "backup" quarterback to his new hometown on a private jet, according to the New York Daily News, where he was greeted by a crowd of adoring fans. He has already been issued a guarantee that he will get on the field, at least when the team runs the Wildcat.

Not many backup quarterbacks I know come into town with a guarantee that they'll play.

But sources told the Daily News that is exactly why Tebow wanted to come to New York: because he thinks he can eventually usurp Sanchez as the starter.

Football is a business, and surely Sanchez knows it.

If the former USC quarterback doesn't play well and the vulturous New York media, not to mention the fan base, begins questioning his every move and every decision, it won't take long for the team to decide to give Tebow a start.

And if Tebow plays well, there's no chance Sanchez gets another shot.

How could he?

How could the team justify keeping him in the top spot on the depth chart if the fan favorite outplays him?

There's no loyalty in football. Just ask Peyton Manning.

The Jets' alleged tactic of bringing in Tebow to put the pressure on Sanchez and hopefully motivate him is bound to backfire.

One Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator told the Daily News' Gary Myers:

"

There has been a little bit of a question mark in the front office, the head coach and players, with Mark Sanchez. At different times, different people have alluded that he might not be good enough. Now all of a sudden you bring in the most popular guy in the league—the guy sold more jerseys than [Tom] Brady did last year. It's going to put a lot of pressure on Mark. More pressure than he's ever had.

"

Sanchez, though succeeding to some degree when the pressure was on in the playoffs against the Patriots two years ago, did not respond well with his back against the wall at the end of the 2011 season. He led the Jets to three straight losses to close out the season, including one particularly ugly game in the regular-season finale that officially squashed the Jets' playoff aspirations.

Coming off that disaster, the last thing Sanchez needs is to compete for his own job with the league's most promising "backup" quarterback.

Everyone in New York is going to want to see what Tebow can do (except Sanchez).

Tannenbaum and the front office can talk a big game right now about how they have Sanchez's back all the way, but it's all talk, and it will mean nothing if Sanchez leads the team to an 0-2 or an 0-3 start.

This will cause the kind of controversy the Jets do not need, seeing as they have yet to live up to the Super Bowl-winning ways Rex Ryan has promised since he arrived.

Some will be on Team Sanchez, and if he falters, most will be on Team Tebow. The controversy will divide the team, and the only way to put a stop to it will be to solidify one of them as the starter and one of them as the backup.

Once and for all.

The chances that the Jets just brought in the most popular player in the league to sit on the bench are not good, and Sanchez knows it, no doubt.

No amount of pinkie-swearing from Tannenbaum will convince anyone otherwise.