The New York Jets drafted Christian Hackenberg in the second round two years ago and planned on making him the quarterback of the future. In his two seasons with the franchise, the former Penn State quarterback never got into a single game with the Jets. The fact that the Jets only won five games in the two years that he was there speaks volumes about what the team thought of their former draft pick. In 2016, Geno Smith, Bryce Petty and Ryan Fitzpatrick all got a chance to play. In 2017, Josh McCown and Bryce Petty both got a chance to play. Petty has since left and signed with the Miami Dolphins and McCown signed a new deal to remain on as the starter in the short term.

Meanwhile, the Jets just drafted Sam Darnold and plan to make him their franchise quarterback, so it was time for Hackenberg to leave.

Jets trade Hackenberg

ESPN reported that the New York Jets just traded Christian Hackenberg to the Oakland Raiders for a conditional draft pick. This is an interesting trade for the Raiders to make. While the Jets had nothing to lose as they didn’t plan on Hackenberg ever playing for them, the Raiders have Derek Carr as their starting quarterback and EJ Manuel as his backup, there might not be a chance for Hackenberg to play in Oakland either.

However, what Christian Hackenberg has going for him is that new Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden has always liked the young gunslinger.

Before the trade, Hackenberg had openly complained that no one with the New York Jets had tried to help him work out the mechanics problems they saw in his passing. Head coach Todd Bowles said that those comments had nothing to do with the trade, just saying they had too many quarterbacks in New York.

Hackenberg in Oakland

Jon Gruden has made a name for himself when it comes to working with quarterbacks.

While he has not thrown a pass in an NFL in two seasons, Christian Hackenberg said that he is only 23 so there is a lot of opportunities remaining for him. There isn’t much chance that will happen with the Oakland Raiders. Hackenberg is the first quarterback in 30 years to get drafted in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft and never take a snap in two seasons.

Derek Carr is a star who is working under a five-year, $125 million contract. While his numbers dropped in 2017, he still remains the solid starter in Oakland. Connor Cook and EJ Manuel were supposed to compete for the Oakland Raiders backup job but Christian Hackenberg will add a third name in the competition for that role.
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