Albeit unwittingly, Mark Sanchez already has done his part to help one young Bears quarterback.
The team announced Tuesday morning that it planned to put fourth-stringer Connor Shaw on waivers. Then Sanchez injured his left knee during organized team activities later in the day. He is expected to miss the rest of the OTAs and the team’s mandatory minicamp, which begins next month, but should return in time for training camp in late July.
Needing another arm in the interim, the Bears rescinded their waiver request on Shaw — who already had posted a farewell letter on Twitter — and instead waived wide receiver Jhajuan Seales, an undrafted free agent from Oklahoma State.
The Bears signed Sanchez to a one-year deal in late March with hopes that he could mentor starter Mike Glennon. When the Bears selected Mitch Trubisky second overall, they maintained that Sanchez, who served as Dak Prescott’s backup with the Cowboys last year, would have a positive influence on both quarterbacks.
Sanchez has started only two games since the end of the 2014 season but brings 77 games worth of experience in some of the league’s largest markets — New York, Philadelphia and Dallas — to share with the quarterbacks room. His absence the next few weeks should mean little in the big picture for the Bears’ offseason practices. The team already was focused on getting Glennon and Trubisky as many snaps as possible.
Shaw, who was originally waived to make room for wide receiver Victor Cruz, gets a second chance to impress a coaching staff that has spoken well of him since he was acquired via waivers last July.
He had the best preseason performance of any Bears quarterback last year — and, according to Pro Football Focus, the second-best preseason passer rating in the league after Prescott — before suffering a grisly broken leg against the Chiefs. The Bears re-signed Shaw to a one-year deal in early March.
Follow me on Twitter @patrickfinley.
Email: pfinley@suntimes.com
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