Tampa Bay Buccaneers Had No Interest in Mark Sanchez, Which was the Right Move

This weekend when news broke that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had discussed the possibility of trading for Mark Sanchez, I had to pause. It was one of those scenarios where you don’t know what to make of something, but you’re absolutely positive it’s a bad idea. Thankfully, the Buccaneers have no interest in Sanchez, but it’s still unsettling that his name was so closely attached to a team like the Buccaneers for as long as it was.

And with Sanchez, two seconds is too long.

Here’s the thing about the Buccaneers: they already have an under-achieving former first-round draft pick in Josh Freeman, they don’t need two of them. Sanchez was a part of the Jets marching to back-to-back AFC Championship games a few years ago, but his role was minor. Sanchez has since proven himself to be completely incompetent when it comes to running an NFL offense, and moving to Tampa was the last thing either party needed.

Not only is Sanchez just awful in every way, the Buccaneers are currently trying to iron out their own unproven, under-achieving former first round quarterback in Josh Freeman.

It’s been documented that head coach Greg Schiano, who inherited Freeman from the previous regime, isn’t sold on the former Kansas State product leading the team. And while Freeman is suffering from a case of a new head coach wanting to run things his way with his people, he hasn’t done much to convince Bucs fans he’s the elite guy they need.

2010 was a breakthrough year for Freeman, but it didn’t elevate him to the next level. 2011 saw Freeman take a major step back, but we all assumed it was because of Raheem Morris. 2012 proved that while Morris was to partially blame, Freeman might not be the guy we thought he could be.

So you can see the stupidity in adding Sanchez. But the thing you need to highlight from all of this is that the Buccaneers yet again this offseason flirted with the idea of adding a quarterback to challenge Freeman’s rule as the starter. It also shows that the Jets are willing to finally admit Sanchez doesn’t work in New York and would part ways with him in the right deal.

Both sides made the right move, which is strange because they held on to their underperforming starters. But lumping both Freeman and Sanchez together on the same roster is not only counterintuitive, it would have created a black hole of suck that likely would have destroyed the universe.