Woody Johnson: We passed on Peyton

Woody Johnson is confident that he has his franchise quarterback in Mark Sanchez, and isn't thinking about Peyton Manning at all.

“No. We passed on him," Johnson said Tuesday night during an interview with Fox Business Network . "We’re signed up with our quarterback. Sanchez is not leaving. We’ve got a pretty good tether. We’ve got five years. We like Mark.”

The Jets signed Sanchez to a three-year, $40.5 million extension after falling out of the sweepstakes for the former Colts quarterback. Johnson, just as GM Mike Tannenbaum said last Friday, confirmed the Jets looked into signing the four-time MVP.

“We have to," he said. "Our fans expect us to look at every opportunity. We looked at the body of work of Mark Sanchez and wanted to put our faith in him. We have a new offensive coordinator, Tony Sparano, who loves Mark and the team he has around him.”

Asked if Sanchez would be forced to leave if Manning joined the team, Johnson said: “No. We’ve never had to discuss ... Mark is a very confident guy, but not confident to a fault. I think he’s going to be an excellent leader.

"I think we’ll see a so-called growth spurt this year. I think he’ll be very good with Tony’s offense.”