Mark Sanchez retiring from NFL for top college football analyst role

Mark Sanchez has chosen not to continue his career as a backup quarterback in the NFL, but we will still be seeing plenty of the former USC star this upcoming football season.

Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports that Sanchez has decided to retire from football to accept a high-profile college football analyst job with ABC/ESPN. Sanchez will join Kevin Negandhi and Jon Vilma in ABC’s lead college football studio, replacing Mack Brown after the former Texas coach left to take the North Carolina job.

Sanchez spent last season as a backup with the Washington Redskins. He appeared in just two games and completed 54.3 percent of his passes with three interceptions and no touchdowns. While he hasn’t played a major role on a team since he was with the New York Jets back in 2012, Sanchez is just 32 and would have had a chance to land another backup job this summer. However, you can certainly understand why the ABC job was of interest to him at this point in his career.

Unfortunately, Sanchez’s playing career will probably be best remembered for the infamous “Butt Fumble,” which he has been a good sport about in the years since it happened. He was a star at the college level with USC and should provide plenty of good insight as an analyst.