Garrard Has a Chance to Start for the Jets After missing the past two seasons because of injury, David Garrard wanted only to return to the N.F.L. Being a backup, he said, was fine with him. And then the Jets came along, with a fluid quarterback situation and an opportunity to unseat Mark Sanchez and fend off any other potential contenders. They conveyed that message to Garrard, who signed with the Jets on Monday. "If he is playing and playing well, and performing better than me, then that's just the case," Garrard said of Sanchez in a conference call on Tuesday. And I'll still be there to support him and help him out. But my thing is just going out there and doing my job, doing what I can do and letting all the chips lie where they are. Strained idioms aside, if Garrard, 35, can stay healthy, he at least has a chance. Always regarded as an accurate passer - over nine seasons, he has a 61.6 completion rate and has thrown an interception every 42.2 passes - Garrard will learn new offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg's system, which is predicated on timing and precision. It is similar, he said, to the schemes he ran in Jacksonville and last summer in Miami, before a knee injury thwarted his hopes of winning the starting job. Garrard reported no injury concerns and said he was not worried about the impact of the layoff on his ability, mobility or odds of dethroning Sanchez. "They all seemed to be very genuine with it," Garrard said of the Jets" expectations of him. "They didn't seem to be, "Let's just say this so we can get him here and slot him into the two or the three or the four spot." I didn't feel that. That's how it was presented to me. That's how I still feel. In their continuing quest to free salary-cap space, the Jets released one of their longest-tenured players, nose tackle Sione Po'uha. The move, which saves them about $3.8 million, leaves the Jets with little experience on the interior defensive line besides Kenrick Ellis, a third-round pick in 2011, who has yet to prove that he merits a starting job. Po'uha's departure also increases the possibility that the Jets will strive to re-sign Mike DeVito, their best run-stuffer, who will be in demand during free agency. The Jets cut Po'uha, 34, drafted in 2005, exactly a year after they signed him to a three-year contract, and three days before his $4.9 million salary for next season would have been guaranteed. Po'uha was limited to 12 games because of back problems, and played only 28 percent of the Jets" defensive snaps last season, according to ProFootballFocus