Latest On Mark Sanchez

It has long been considered unlikely that Mark Sanchez will still be a New York Jet by the time the 2014 season gets underway, and in a video report for ESPN.com, Rich Cimini confirms that the two sides still seem likely to part ways. Here are the highlights from Cimini’s report:

• There’s no chance that Sanchez will return to the Jets on his current $13.1MM cap number, but the team could ask him about taking a significant pay cut to remain on the roster. Still, after talking to both camps, Cimini gets the sense that a fresh start may be in the best interests of both sides, with Sanchez likely seeking a change of scenery.
• Sanchez is owed a roster bonus of $2MM on March 25, so the Jets will make their move before that date. While the club will explore trade options, finding a taker is a real long shot — releasing him is far more likely. In that case, Sanchez would count as $4.8MM in dead money on New York’s 2014 cap.
• Assuming Sanchez ultimately does end up on the open market, he could land a deal worth $3-4MM with a chance to be a starter, general managers tell Cimini. That’s a similar sentiment to one we heard expressed in a New York Post report last month, and taking into account the rather weak free agent market for quarterbacks, it doesn’t sound like a stretch.