In a league where strong quarterback play is a necessity for consistent success, perhaps no team is speeding toward the summer with less optimism than the New York Jets, where a three-way competition features the consummate journeyman, Josh McCown, facing off against a pair of projects, Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg.
From a ceiling standpoint, there is only one member of that trio inspiring any hope in the fan base, and that’s Hackenberg, the 2016 second-round pick who at least has some physical gifts to inspire a little excitement.
The one positive to this point with Hackenberg is that he was at his best at Penn State in a pro-style offense with Bill O’Brien, now the coach in Houston, running things. When James Franklin took over the Nittany Lions and brought more of a spread style to State College, Hackenberg’s confidence slowly eroded and his game followed suit.
By the time the NFL came calling there were widely gesticulating viewpoints on Hackenberg, with some scouts telling FanRagSports.com that he should have been a later-round pick and others believing he could be salvaged in the kind of traditional system he once thrived in under O’Brien.
The first step in accomplishing the latter would be to rebuild the psyche of Hackenberg, something that didn’t seem to go very well in what turned out to be a redshirt rookie year.
The fact that Hackenberg was an afterthought as a rookie, the fourth man on the NFL’s only four-man depth chart at the position despite the struggles of Ryan Fitzpatrick, the resume of Geno Smith and the limited upside of Petty.
Somehow, in a few short months, with none of it spent on the practice field getting better, some around the Jets want you to believe that Hackenberg is ready to turn the corner.
Why? Because when the only thing left in the inventory is hope, that’s the only thing you can sell. And the only unknown to put the price tag on here is Hackenberg after general manager Mike Maccagnan decided not to add yet another project in the draft.
From the second-year player’s standpoint, the fact that he’s actually in the conversation this time around and may control his own destiny seems to have buoyed his spirits a bit.
Whether that sugar pill is enough to turn Hackenberg into a reliable NFL starter remains to be seen, but because he’s the Jets’ only option to spark a downtrodden fan base, you have to try.
“I think I got better in a lot of ways, even going back to the day I stepped foot in the building until the end of the season,” Hackenberg said.
-- John McMullen
