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The Mark Sanchez era may be over.

At least for the rest of 2012.

Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports, citing a prominent unnamed Jets source, that “there’s no way” Sanchez should start against the Chargers on Sunday. “Home or away,” the source said. “I don’t care where game is being played. There’s no way he starts.”

A Jet source, who may or may not be the same source (it’s not clear), says it would be “horrifically stupid” to give Sanchez another start.

The Jets host the Chargers in a game that previously was scheduled for prime time on NBC. It’s the only Sunday night that was flexed out of the slot this year.

Benching Sanchez for backup Tim Tebow would give the Jets a chance to showcase Tebow in advance of a possible offseason trade. Passing over Tebow (Brady Quinn can relate to that) and going with Greg McElroy would allow the team to get a look at whether McElroy could contend for the starting job in 2013.

Either way, the Jets owe Sanchez $8.25 million for 2013, whether he’s the starter and regardless of whether he’s cut and signed by someone else. The Jets can avoid the obligation only by trading Sanchez, and no team would trade for Sanchez’s contract, unless at a minimum that Jets would be paying a large chunk of the salary.