Mark Sanchez, College Football Analyst, Makes All the Sense in the World

Mark Sanchez is hanging up his cleats and grabbing a microphone. The former New York Jets quarterback is joining ESPN as a college football analyst, the New York Post reports. He’ll be in the top studio during the day with Kevin Negandhi and Jon Vilma, replacing Mack Brown, who is returning to North Carolina.

Sanchez’s NFL future was quite murky, if not non-existent. It makes sense to strike while the iron’s hot for his post-playing career. Though, one could argue the iron was much hotter a few years ago.

The Post reports Sanchez also auditioned for Fox Sports, so his appeal was readily apparent to more than one company. Sanchez has always been good in interviews, is engaging, and — let’s face it — more handsome than the average bear.

There has never been a better time to have those attributes and diminishing physical skills. The soft landing pad has ballooned to a size where it’s able to fit whole rosters of players looking to become broadcasters.

My two cents on this movement when it comes to the college game is that it’s smart. It’s smart for networks to skew young. Saturdays are about youth and energy and a marathon-type level of fitness is required to make it through the slate, which stretches from noon until the wee hours of the night.

Sanchez checks so many boxes that he was a natural choice even if the results don’t pan out the way ESPN hopes.