Christian Hackenberg observations
Intentional or not, the Jets didn't make observing Christian Hackenberg's first public throws since the 2016 preseason finale very easy. At the team's first organizes team activity of the year, Hackenberg worked on the far field away from the media. He threw primarily to scrub receivers, who were covered by scrub defenders.
Still, we did our part to observe everything Hackenberg did. How'd he look? Was he improved from an inactive rookie season? Should Jets fans be hopeful this team finally has a franchise quarterback?
Here are a few observations.
Oh, before we get to them: This was the first of 10 voluntary offseason workouts. Players wore shorts and shirts. If you thought you'd get an inkling on Hackenberg's franchise quarterback potential, you're crazy.
Now to the takeaways ...
It's an open competition
New Jets offensive coordinator John Morton made one thing clear when he met the media: This is an open quarterback competition. While Hackenberg was third in the pecking order Tuesday, that won't be the case the rest of the week. Each quarterback will get equal reps.
Tuesday, Hackenberg worked on the far field while Josh McCown got most first-team reps. Bryce Petty rotated between the two fields. The Jets have two more OTAs this week. Judging by what Morton said, Hackenberg will get the majority of the first-team reps one of those days.
Both practices are closed to the media, though. So no one will actually know how Hackenberg plays.
Not the best competition
Hackenberg had plenty of downs on Tuesday, but it's tough to get an accurate read on his play. He wasn't playing with the best competition. Hackenberg threw to and against rookies, undrafted free agents and players on the bottom of the 90-man roster. A few errant throws could be on Hackenberg, or a receiver running a wrong route. It's impossible to know.
Footwork seems improved
Hackenberg was horribly inaccurate in college. He wasn't much better his first season with the Jets — in practice and training camp. A big reason for this was his footwork. He spent a lot of time this offseason with Jordan Palmer, brother of Carson and the quarterback guru he worked with leading up to the draft. It looks like they focused on his feet.
It's early, but they look much more consistent and robotic (in a good way) compared to his rookie season. You can check it out in some video highlights here.
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Short accuracy issues still there
Again, this is the first of 10 organized team activity practices. You can't take much out of it. There's a lot of time between now, the start of camp, preseason and Week 1. Still, Hackenberg continues to struggle with short passes.
Most throws within those 0-5 yards are inconsistent. It's not like Hackenberg is throwing them 10 yards over a guy's head or bouncing them, but they rarely hit the numbers. The wideout/running back has to reach a yard to this left, right, or down. In practices against air, this isn't a bad thing. In an NFL game where every inch matters, it's huge.
