In 2016, the New York Jets made an interesting choice in the NFL Draft. With their second-round pick in the draft, the Jets chose Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Christian Hackenberg. They saw him as the possible franchise quarterback they have needed for years. However, there were doubters. In his three seasons at Penn State, Hackenberg was never consistent. In his first season as a starter, he threw for 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions but then threw for 12 touchdowns and 15 interceptions his second season.
In his final year, he threw the ball about 100 fewer times than his second, which might account for his six interceptions – the lowest number of his college career. The Jets believed they could develop him, but the problem is that they never did.
Jets admit their mistake with Hackenberg
The New York Jets drafted Sam Darnold this year in the 2018 NFL Draft. They also signed Josh McCown to remain their starter until Darnold is ready to stop in and brought in former Minnesota Vikings star Teddy Bridgewater to compete for a role. That made Christian Hackenberg the odd man out. It almost didn’t seem fair because the Jets – no matter how many games they lost in the last two seasons – refused to give Hackenberg a chance to show anything.
He has still never taken a snap in a regular season NFL game.
The problem comes with the fact that the New York Jets always kept too many quarterbacks on their preseason rosters and limited the number of reps that Christian Hackenberg had, which stunted any chance of him being able to work out his mechanics. As a matter of fact, the Jets had four quarterbacks on their roster in 2016 during the regular season, which means Hackenberg got almost no reps in his rookie year.
New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles said that a draft pick that doesn’t work out is a waste, basically throwing Christian Hackenberg away with that statement. He called drafting Hackenberg a “lesson” to learn from.
Christian Hackenberg fires back
Christian Hackenberg isn’t taking this lying down. He is only 23 and has still never taken an official NFL snap in a regular season game. He is now playing for the Oakland Raiders and is fighting for the backup role behind Derek Carr. This is the fresh start that he needed, and he is hoping that playing for a quarterback guru in Jon Gruden will help him finally develop. He went as far as to say that the New York Jets coaching staff refused to help him work out his mechanics.
Hackenberg said that he was not blaming the New York Jets coaches for his problems, but he was frustrated that no one there was helping him and giving him information on how to address and fix those problems. Now that he is with the Oakland Raiders, he said that he is happy that someone has finally stepped up to help him work on his mechanics.