Sanchez said he understood the feeling, but he disagreed with that conclusion. He said the photos had been taken months ago, well before the draft. He called the spread a “bucket list kind of deal,” a photo shoot with a supermodel, impossible to turn down.  Still, it provided perfect fodder for the locker room, despite the admission from most Jets that they would have posed if asked.  Sanchez’s brief but shirtless stroll Thursday drew a round of catcalls. Nose tackle Kris Jenkins suggested a male model walk-off, like the scene from the movie “Zoolander,” between Sanchez and Kerry Rhodes, the safety who has been nicknamed Hollywood by his teammates.  “We need to determine the prettiest male in this locker room,” Jenkins said.  Before Steve Sarkisian became the Washington Huskies’ latest coach, he was Sanchez’s offensive coordinator at U.S.C. He has received an e-mail message with the Sanchez photos.  Sarkisian is not worried about Sanchez. He noted the pro-style offense that the Trojans run. He mentioned Sanchez’s infectious personality. If anything, Sarkisian believes Sanchez is suited to make an immediate impact than most rookie quarterbacks.  “He made a nice splash,” Sarkisian said. “The important thing now is to go out and play football. Mark’s the kind of guy, he’s going to try to please everybody for a while. At some point here, he’s going to hunker down.”  As Sanchez’s focus turned to football, the pretty boy turned in an ugly practice Thursday. He received a tongue-lashing from Brian Schottenheimer, the offensive coordinator, for a poor read in the red zone. He tossed an interception, had two passes batted to the ground and overthrew receiver Wallace Wright on a deep route.  Dustin Keller, a first-round pick in 2008, knows the difficulties inherent in Sanchez’s transition to the N.F.L. Keller’s rookie season at tight end came with a smaller playbook, compressed because of the arrival of Brett Favre. Still, Keller said he did not fully grasp the offense until midway through last season.  The Jets’ offense uses its share of shifts and motions and ranks among the most intricate in the N.F.L. Sanchez needs to learn everything that Keller did — and then some. To that end, teammates have seen him on the field at 6:30 p.m. for extra work long after most have left.  “I know his head is spinning,” Keller said.  Sanchez said the concepts of the passing game, the reads and progressions, felt similar to the U.S.C. offense. He struggled with everything else, with the running game and the protection schemes and, more than anything, the overload of information.  He also faced a Jets defense led by Coach Rex Ryan, who was nicknamed the Mad Scientist by his players in Baltimore. Ryan’s defenses are unpredictable, and the constant shifting and unwavering pressure have given the Jets’ offense a bewildered look in minicamp.  “It was a good day,” Sanchez said after practice, pausing for the punch line. “For the defense.”  Ryan said that Sanchez has progressed further than most rookie quarterbacks at this stage, and that facing this defense would aid his development.  “He looks much better than most of our guys would,” Ryan said, discussing the GQ pictures. “Let’s just be happy it was him and not some of our linemen.”  The veteran fullback Tony Richardson echoed Sarkisian, noting that after only three practices, Sanchez had already shown the Jets the intangibles they hoped for when they drafted him — the presence, the calm, the quiet confidence.  “You can see flashes,” Richardson said. “You see some special things.”  By flashes, Richardson did not mean photography. He meant football, Sanchez’s new and, he said, singular focus, the reason the Jets drafted him in the first place.  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B11 of the New York edition with the headline: A Jets Quarterback, With Cheesecake on the Side. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Since the draft, Mark Sanchez has thrown out the first pitch at a Mets game, used Twitter to update his transition to the N.F.L. and appeared in a GQ photo spread.