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Mark Sanchez will face another year of stiff competition for the starting role.

(Photo by US Presswire)

Update at 1:33 p.m. on Tuesday: According to a person with knowledge of the Jets plans, there is no interest in JaMarcus Russell. We wrote down below that recently, members of the organization engaged in very informal discussions regarding the QB.

Through a series of introductory interviews, general manager John Idzik has made one thing clear: The roster will be built on competition. Players will be challenged for their spots.

This includes the starting quarterback position and Mark Sanchez, who is scheduled to make a guaranteed $8.25 million after a troubling 2012 during which he was benched twice.

Idzik, who was hired less than a week ago, finally got to meet with Sanchez to let him know personally.

"Yeah, I’m comfortable with Mark being a Jet," Idzik said on WFAN Monday morning. "I told him as well, we’re going to add competition. ... It’s going to help make Mark and everybody else better."

Sanchez, though, should have seen the writing on the wall. One similarity between Idzik and former general manager Mike Tannenbaum was that both intended on pushing Sanchez with new blood in 2013.

During the Tannenbaum regime, the Jets scouted quarterbacks like West Virginia’s Geno Smith, Syracuse’s Ryan Nassib and Virginia Tech’s Logan Thomas before he decided to stay another year in college, according to people briefed on the matter. These people requested anonymity because the Jets do not make their possible draft targets public.

Idzik said he planned on keeping Tannenbaum’s personnel department in place, too, which means that those same eyes are still present in the team’s front office.

More recently, after Tannenbaum was let go, members of the organization had some very exploratory, informal discussions regarding former Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell, the 2007 No. 1 overall pick who flamed out of the NFL after the 2009 season. Russell recently decided to mount a comeback in hopes of returning to the league next season.

At the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., the Jets spent a significant amount of time with the fast-rising Mike Glennon out of North Carolina State, according to ESPN New York.

Even before Tim Tebow, who is technically still in the fold, even before the butt fumble and the third-quarter benching against Arizona, there was a push to get someone else on the roster to challenge Sanchez in 2013.

Idzik is interested in continuing that process.

"I think he’s champing at the bit," Idzik said of Sanchez. "And he wants to get going with his new coordinator (Marty Mornhinweg). He’s all about competing. I got a really good feeling from Mark."

Mornhinweg runs a quarterback-friendly system that aids completion percentage even in quarterbacks with a typically low passer success rate like Michael Vick.

Heavy on slants and quick outs, but not shy about longer shots downfield, the system could be a godsend to Sanchez, who has already paired himself with Jeff Garcia this offseason to get a grip on the offense.

After two straight seasons in decline, though, Sanchez has seen his starting role — a near guarantee for so much of the Rex Ryan era — come into question.

"He should be challenged," Garcia said last week on WFAN. "He should be forced to bring the best out of himself. He should never feel content that that’s his position. ...The best players should play and that’s why I think competition brings out the best in people."

Note: Idzik said he was a little taken aback by the fallout from the Darrelle Revis trade situation, which sparked on Idzik’s first day in town.

"Yeah, I was surprised" about the attention, Idzik said of the initial uproar on WFAN. "Because we really hadn’t had any in-depth discussions — still haven’t. We’re still in the midst of evaluating our roster and assembling a coaching staff and doing some of the initial moves. So I was taken aback by that. But I called Darrelle just to make sure he knew exactly what was going on from our end, and it was good to talk to him. I thought it was well-received."

Conor Orr: corr@starledger.com; twitter.com/ConorTOrr