It could be a while before Mark Sanchez is capable of even throwing a football again.
The Jets quarterback's shoulder injury is significant enough he is expected to miss the first two weeks of the regular season and may be out longer, according to a source.
Sanchez injured his right shoulder on Aug. 24 in a preseason game against the Giants. The Jets have said he is "day-to-day," but Sanchez has not thrown a football yet, according to a source and may not until the week after the team faces the Patriots on Sept. 12.
According to a source, the doctors don't want Sanchez to try to throw too soon and make his
AP
TWO DOWN: Mark Sanchez grimaces after injuring his shoulder against the Giants on Aug. 24. He will miss the first two games and be out until at least the Jets' Sept. 22 game against the Bills.
injury worse. There is a fear he could do further damage to the shoulder and possibly miss the rest of the season. At the moment, the Jets do not think Sanchez will need to be placed on injured reserve.
On Monday, Sanchez refused to admit he was not playing this week, saying he still was working to be ready.
"I'm trying, I'm trying," he said. "We'll make a good push this week and see where I'm at. You just want to take this thing slow, take it the right way, make the right progression without reinjuring yourself."
Sanchez's injury leaves rookie Geno Smith as the starter against the Buccaneers Sunday and likely against the Patriots a week from tomorrow. That will be a tough turnaround for the second-round pick from West Virginia.
The Jets then have 10 days off before playing host to the Bills in Week 3.
There have been questions whether the Jets will release Sanchez or put him on IR. If they chose to release him, they would still owe him $8.25 million guaranteed and he'd count $12.8 million against the salary cap this year and $4.8 million next season.
There is a chance the Jets wait until after the trade deadline to release Sanchez, because he would then be subject to waivers and it is possible a desperate team would claim him.
One of Sanchez's former teammates does not believe he ever will be a starting quarterback in the NFL again.
"I don't think Mark will be a starter again in the NFL," running back LaDainian Tomlinson said on "Mad Dog Radio" on SiriusXM. "I think there's certainly potential for him to be a backup and then get a starting job for half the year or what have you that way. But I think his days as a full-time starter are pretty much over. Because you've got to realize in football, for a quarterback, you're going to get 3 to 5 years in an organization to prove that you're the franchise guy. I mean that's just what it is. And if you don't do it in that time frame then they're going to move on to somebody else and then your position now will become a backup."
Sanchez sounded frustrated Monday when he spoke to the media. He kept repeating lines from the script the team clearly gave him. He would not reveal any details of his rehab and barely would answer any questions.
Sanchez has done his best to hide any frustration he feels about losing the starting job to Smith because of his injury.
"There's nothing I can do about it," Sanchez said. "I just got to keep rehabbing and try to come back as soon as possible."
➤ The Jets signed LB Danny Lansanah and DT Junior Aumavae to the practice squad. They released OT J.B. Shugarts from the practice squad.
brian.costello@nypost.com
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