There's no question which AFC East rookie heads into 2009 most squarely on the hot seat.
New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez already is being promoted as the face of the franchise. He hasn't thrown an NFL pass. He hasn't even broken a practice huddle with the veterans.
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Yet he's one of New York's biggest celebrities, already drawing comparisons to Joe Namath as a leading man. Sanchez has been all over the back pages of the New York newspapers. He threw out the first pitch at a New York Mets game. He elicits applause when he walks down the street.
That's what happens when a team trades two draft picks and three players, moves up 12 spots and selects a star college quarterback who looks like he reported straight from central casting.
Add to that the fact the Jets drafted only two other players the whole weekend.
No other AFC East rookie has such expectations. The next-highest draft pick was Buffalo Bills defensive end Aaron Maybin, who will be given some leeway because he started only one season at Penn State and left early.
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The Miami Dolphins took cornerback Vontae Davis with their first selection, but rookies rarely are projected to produce at that position. Pat White, the multitasking quarterback Miami took in the second round, has created significant buzz, but nobody's counting on a substantial impact.
Sanchez, meanwhile, is trying to box out veteran Kellen Clemens and assume control of a team with playoff aspirations.
Jets head coach Rex Ryan made it to the AFC Championship Game last season as Baltimore's defensive coordinator, and rookie Joe Flacco was the quarterback. That precedent would seem to eliminate NFL inexperience as an excuse if things go poorly.
Circumstances could give Sanchez more responsibilities than Flacco had.
The Jets don't have a true No. 1 receiver and didn't replace Laveranues Coles. Both of their running backs, Pro Bowlers Thomas Jones and Leon Washington, are involved in contract disputes.
Sanchez will have to find a way to make it work.
The media crucible that is New York will label Sanchez a demigod or a bum on a weekly basis.
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Tim Graham
Graham joined ESPN.com in 2008 after covering the Miami Dolphins for the Palm Beach Post. He previously spent eight years at the Buffalo News, where he was an award-winning NHL and boxing writer. The Baldwin-Wallace College grad also has worked for the Las Vegas Sun and Boston Herald.