Jerricho Cotchery Trade Rumors: New York Jets Complete Turnover at Wide Receiver

According to Rich Cimini of ESPN New York via Twitter, the New York Jets intend on trading or releasing Jerricho Cotchery. His time with the Jets appears to be drawing to an end.

Forget about the possible landing spots, the, "Is his career drawing to an end, as well" stories and all that. This directly impacts the outlook of Mark Sanchez's performance in 2011.

A young quarterback who already lacks accuracy is now expected to develop rapport with a receiving corps comprised of entirely new faces from his rookie year in 2009.

That year, his top five leaders in receptions were Cotchery (57), Dustin Keller (45), Braylon Edwards (35), Leon Washington (15) and David Clowney (14). Four of those five have now flown away from their home with the Jets.

Of Sanchez's top targets over the past two years, only Keller remains with the team. Of course, he has strong performances and relationships with LaDainian Tomlinson and Santonio Holmes, but there's no substitute for the bond between a quarterback and his receivers.

This goes beyond the top receivers, though. Even the fourth and fifth stringers at receiver like Clowney, Chansi Stuckey and Brad Smith have all gone on to new territory.

Sanchez's aforementioned lack of accuracy could be compensated for with rapport between he and his receivers. Instead, the third-year quarterback will be working largely with new targets or faces he's only familiar with over the past year.

What makes this decision even more puzzling is that the third year is generally the year in which quarterbacks are expected to make a big leap. The game starts to slow down for them, reads get quicker, and their understanding of the offense has deepened by the third year.

The lack of chemistry between Sanchez and his pass-catchers could put that big leap on hold for the time being.

Perhaps the Jets have resigned themselves to remaining a run-heavy offense for the foreseeable future, but the amount of turnover at receiver has to be at least somewhat disconcerting for a young quarterback who should be entering his prime right about now.

Erik Frenz is the co-host of the PatsPropaganda and Frenz podcast. Follow Erik on Twitter @erikfrenz.