McElroy Named Starter, “Sanchez/Tebow” Share Second-String

In a not-so-surprising move by Rex Ryan, Greg McElroy has been named the New York Jets (6-8) starter for their upcoming game against the San Diego Chargers (5-9). Your New Starter This will be the first professional start of McElroy’s career. His only other regular season action was the game-winning drive he led against the Arizona Cardinals. The 2011 seventh-round selection was a two-year starter at Alabama, quarterbacking them to a national championship in 2009. He was very efficient, improving his completion percentage from 60.9 percent in 2009 to 70.9 percent in 2010. He threw 17 touchdowns and four interceptions in the championship season and followed it up with 20 touchdowns and five interceptions. Why The Move Makes Sense I really shouldn’t have to include this section in regards to why Sanchez is benched, so I’m going to focus on why McElroy over Tebow is the right choice. McElroy is a second-year player who displayed accuracy, leadership and good decision-making during his time in college. The Jets don’t know what they have in McElroy and now is the ideal time to find out if he is a serviceable backup, a diamond in the rough, or the next Ryan Lindley (i.e. shouldn’t be in the NFL). To go along with answering the questions around him is the fact that the Jets know what they have in Tebow. They’ve seen what his physical abilities are and what he’s capable of on a football field, and while the winning aspect of his game is attractive, I’m sure the organization would prefer to play it safe with a traditional passer. Tebow will most likely be released or traded as soon as possible. Depth Chart Questions? It will be interesting to see where the Jets turn in the scenario that McElroy plays worse than Sanchez or he gets hurt. On the official team website McElroy is listed as the starter but under second-string it reads “Mark Sanchez/Tim Tebow.” Talk about unclear. Hopefully McElroy will at least play well enough to finish out the season so we don’t have to even worry about that. Rodgers That   Follow Dan Rodgers on Twitter: @dhrodgers52 Stats and information courtesy of ESPN.com