Just hear me out.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Mark Sanchez, who has been running with the second unit in the team's OTA practices, hasn't exactly looked very sharp so far this offseason. Sure, it's only been two practices that have been open to the media, but he just hasn't done much to inspire confidence yet. To his credit, the main issue I've seen is with him overthrowing receivers. He's only thrown one interception so far and that was when his receiver slipped (on a wet field) and the pass went right to Brandon Boykin.
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It's very possible Sanchez has been struggling because he's just simply not very good. That's entirely possible. Then again, I wonder if the fact that Sanchez is playing in a new scheme with new players has been underrated. I have to imagine the Eagles offense is significantly different than whatever the heck the New York Jets have been running during Sanchez's tenure there.
All of this had me thinking: is Mark Sanchez the new Trent Edwards? I was toying around with this idea in my head and then I saw the great Tommy Lawlor suggest it as well, so I figured there might be something to this theory. If for some reason you totally blocked the Eagles 2012 season out of your mind (I wouldn't blame you), let's recall Edwards' tenure with the Birds.
The Eagles signed Edwards before their OTA/minicamp period in 2012. He came in as a veteran quarterback who had experience starting the NFL, and once had a promising career in Buffalo, but then suffered injuries and poor play. Edwards was reportedly terrible for the Eagles in OTAs. They reportedly re-worked his entire throwing mechanics.
Edwards flew under the radar during training camp practices that year but then really surprised late in the preseason games. Granted, he was playing against third string players, but he looked sharp and largely mistake-free. Edwards played so well that the Eagles decided to cut Future Hall of Famer the younger Mike Kafka and keep him as their third string QB.
By now you may have noticed some similarities between Edwards and Sanchez. Two former QBs who showed potential at one time but quickly saw their careers go downhill. The difference here is that Sanchez probably showed more potential than Edwards did and could be further along than Edwards was when he signed with the Eagles.
It'll be interesting to see if a full offseason in the system will do Sanchez favors just like it did for Edwards. We'll just have to wait until training camp and preseason to find out.