QB? TAKE A PASS
Why Jets should give Hack his shot in ’17
LOYALTY in pro sports is a myth perpetuated by those who will discard you the moment you don’t serve their needs. It’s the ultimate scam, a hoax filled with endless hot air. The victims range from overhyped rookies to fading stars. The eternal bottom line: If you can’t play well enough, you’re out. It’s a way of life in this line of work. So, how should we feel about Jets quarterback Christian Hackenberg one calendar year into his professional life? He has endured criticism despite never having taken a single regularseason snap in the NFL. Sure, he looked awful in two preseason games eight months ago that make you wonder about the wisdom of drafting him in the second round, but I’m pretty sure a 47-pass sample size in practice games isn’t large enough to put a guy out to pasture. Maybe the Jets don’t owe Hackenberg a darn thing (other than $2.25 million for being the 51st overall pick), but the powers that be certainly owe it to themselves to truly find out if this player can develop into what they had hoped. None of that should preclude the organization from drafting a quarterback in the first round later this week if – and only if – they believe they’ve found their franchise guy. Spoiler alert: There isn’t a franchise quarterback in this draft class. So, give Hackenberg a chance in 2017. This is undeniable: Although Hackenberg largely remains a mystery to most of us, faith in him waned inside the organization last year. He simply wasn’t anywhere close to being ready to be an NFL starter. The team’s decision to keep him on the sideline for 17 weeks despite plenty of opportunities to play him down the stretch of a lost season was clear evidence of that.
This is also undeniable: Hackenberg, believe it or not, can actually improve!
The brain trust believes that new quarterbacks coach Jeremy Bates will facilitate the young signal caller’s development. Todd Bowles has admitted Hackenberg will get his chance this year.
None of that, of course, prevented the Jets from taking a thorough look at the top quarterback prospects in this draft.
Is it an indictment on Hackenberg? Well, obviously. But that doesn’t mean that all hope is lost for the former Penn State quarterback. He might still have a future with the Jets.
“Quite frankly, I don’t know if there’s going to be a year where I — or we as a team — don’t look strongly at that position,” Maccagnan said Monday about his decision to carefully evaluate the top quarterbacks in this draft. “Because I think it’s so important, you almost have to every year. I think what you’ll find, too, is a lot of teams in the league do the same thing. Some teams might be a little more aggressive. Some teams not.”
Although Maccagnan, who took Bryce Petty in the fourth round of the 2015 draft, insisted that his team’s decision to visit and work out the top quarterback prospects this year wasn’t “a referendum on one or another player (on the Jets roster),” there are rightfully legitimate concerns about whether Hackenberg can blossom. The Jets will continue vetting quarterbacks “until you’re in a position where you feel (comfortable) with where you are at,” the general manager said.
“We’re not at that position yet,” Maccagnan said. “But we may be. Time will tell.” y every objective measure, Hackenberg’s slow transition to the next level shouldn’t have been surprising. He had his fair share of struggles in his final two seasons in college after Bill O’Brien bolted for the NFL. He was sacked 103 times in 38 career games. He struggled with accuracy in the pocket. He needed to be fixed.
“What I said about Hackenberg a year ago is (that) you could find a throw or two or three off every one of his tapes where you go, ‘Wow, that’s a big-time NFL throw,’” NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock recently said. “But the majority of the tape was poor from a decision-making perspective all the way through: Accuracy, consistency, decision-making. So, Hackenberg, to me, was like this puzzle that had to be unraveled. And I don’t know if it will ever happen.”
The Jets’ pursuit to solve their most maddening problem shouldn’t stop, but they owe it to themselves to find out if Hackenberg can actually play this season.
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