"I understand him getting the money, but the job as a coach is you’ve got to play the best guys," said Rex Ryan. "What gives you a chance to win? I’m judged on wins and losses. I have to do what’s best for our football team. If that means that we play a rookie at quarterback, then so be it. If that means Kellen Clemens is our quarterback, that’s great."
So Ryan refuses to hand Sanchez the job, no matter how much he is making.
"The one thing that I always say is that the guy is going to have to earn that job whether it’s Kellen or Mark," said Ryan. "Somebody is going to have to earn it. That’s what’s great about this competition. This is working exactly how you would want it to work, where not that it is a slam dunk one way or the other."
Ryan feels this heated competition is bringing out the best in both quarterbacks.
"It’s a great competition because both of them have really looked good," said Ryan. "If they both looked terrible, then you’d really be in trouble. Both of them have looked good, so this is what you want as a coach. It’s going to make them much better. I think it already has."