Mark Sanchez Q&A: Broncos QB Talks Trade, Following Manning, Learning Spanish

DENVER — Unlike Sam Bradford, his former teammate in Philadelphia, Mark Sanchez isn’t the least bit concerned about the fact his team just took a quarterback in the first round of the NFL draft.

That’s because Sanchez sees his arrival in Denver as an opportunity, not a dead end. As much as the road may be paved for Paxton Lynch to eventually become the starting quarterback for the Broncos, Sanchez was the first to arrive after Peyton Manning retired and Brock Osweiler shocked the organization by leaving for Houston.

If that’s all the advantage Sanchez gets, he’ll take it as he tries to resurrect his career as a starting quarterback with the defending Super Bowl champions:

 

Bleacher Report: I hear these questions about whether you’re going to get along with Paxton Lynch, and I wonder where they come from. You’ve never seemed like a guy who was going to be a problem teammate.

Mark Sanchez: I guess it’s just a natural question. But I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t get along. I’m working hard. He’s working hard. We help each other and help the team.

 

B/R: Do you pay attention to any of what Sam Bradford is going through in Philadelphia?

MS: Not at all. No offense to them, but I have enough going on here, and they know they have my full respect. I loved being there and had a great time with the organization and thought we had a good little run going there two years ago. It’s too bad that things didn’t work out. But other than that, I don’t have a problem with them, and I really haven’t followed it too much. It didn’t change what I was doing.

 

B/R: You’re at a really interesting spot in your career. You’re walking onto a team that just won a championship, and you were on a team early in your career that went to two AFC Championship Games. You’ve had some struggles since then. Do you view this as a make-or-break situation?

MS: I’m looking to seize an opportunity. I think the pieces have all kind of come together, even though I never expected to be here.

 

B/R: So the Broncos weren’t talking to you at all in advance of the trade?

MS: No, not at all. This happened all while I was working out. My agent hadn’t heard yet. [Philadelphia general manager] Howie Roseman and [Denver general manager] John Elway were really the only ones who knew until they told me. Nobody really knew. I was maybe the third, fourth or fifth person to know. Once that happened, I called my agents to find out what was happening and they said, “We don’t know that.”

 

B/R: So where were you when this all happened?

MS: I was working out at ProSport Physical Therapy in Rancho Santa Margarita, where I’m from. I was in the workout and went to the bathroom. When I got back, I noticed I had a missed call and two texts from Howie. So I called him back, and my friend is there looking at me, like, “What’s going on?”

As I’m listening to Howie, I’m mouthing to him, “I got traded to Denver.” It was literally like that. I’m thinking, “What’s going on here?” After that, it was immediately “What’s worked in the past? What’s the right thing to do? How am I going to make the most of this opportunity?” It was just huge.

 

B/R: From that point, how quickly were you in Denver?

MS: I think it was two days later to do the press conference. So that weekend, I was home, and it was just a moment to take some time to myself and think about what I wanted to do and how to navigate this opportunity. I think that was the toughest part.

How do you motivate guys who are already there when you haven’t? How do you say “Hey, guys. Let’s put in all this work because we want to win a Super Bowl” when I’m the only guy who hasn’t? So it’s like a fine line of how to push guys and be a leader and establish yourself while also respecting what they have done and distance yourself from what they have done.

Those are the things I was thinking about right away. This is tricky, and this is different.

 

B/R: What’s also interesting to me is that you walk in here after a future Hall of Fame quarterback and a backup quarterback helped them get there. But it’s not as if, statistically, they were overwhelming. This was not a quarterback-driven team. So how do you view this job?

MS: It’s a weird narrative. I understand my role: Just drive the car straight. Stay in the right lane. Stay in your lane and do what you’re called to do. There’s no behind-the-back, rolling-right kind of things. Just stick with the play. Get us out of bad plays, avoid negative plays, stick with the plays and give ourselves a chance to win.

That’s kind of been the theme here in general. Even last year, for a guy who is a no-doubt first-ballot Hall of Famer, look at how the Super Bowl went. [Manning] played it by the book. He played it really smart. He knew that was exactly what he had to do. Those guys were on fire on defense. Special teams were lights-out.

What do we have to do on offense? Protect the ball, score a few points, and we’re good. It’s similar to those first few years in New York. Make all the routine plays, and when it’s time to make a big play, it will present itself. You practice for it and be ready to do it.

 

B/R: It seems that the offensive talent in New York when you were there was good, not great. The offensive talent here is better, in your view?

MS: I don’t want to compare. We had good guys on both teams. I can speak to this team and say …

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