The old saying goes that the most popular player on a football team is the backup quarterback. He usually holds the allure of the unknown, a sense of hope and possibility.
That is … unless it is Christian Hackenberg.
The Jets’ second-year quarterback seems to have already been written off by many fans and media members. It is odd to see how Hackenberg is being viewed before he even throws a pass in an NFL game that counts.
Typically, quarterbacks are not viewed as poor players until they actually play. It is the NFL version of innocent until proven guilty. Over the past decade, Jets fans clamored to see backup quarterbacks like Kellen Clemens, Greg McElroy and Bryce Petty play. Once they played, the love affairs died.
With Hackenberg, though, it feels like the conclusion has already been reached that he stinks and he has to prove otherwise. It started with predraft hatchet jobs on Hackenberg off of his inconsistent career at Penn State. People were eager to dismiss the success of his freshman year under Bill O’Brien and focus on the struggles he had as a sophomore and junior. Mostly lost in those analyses, though, was a look at the diminished quality of the team around him in those years thanks to NCAA sanctions and the dip in the quality of coaching he received.
When the Jets took Hackenberg in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft, the scrutiny on Hackenberg only grew. For Hackenberg, the Jets probably were one of the worst places for him to land. He joined a losing franchise with a fan base starved for a franchise quarterback and an unrelenting media spotlight. Had he landed somewhere like Seattle or Green Bay, he would have been allowed to develop without a microscope on him at all times.
Instead, he’s a Jet.
That has led to a fascination with Hackenberg that has included anonymous evaluations of him in practice last year, and then last week an anonymous critique on ESPN.com of his accuracy in warm-ups last year. The latest is a breakdown of Hackenberg’s 2016 preseason tape by Bleacher Report. Think about what we’re evaluating here. Games from nine months ago when he had three months with the team.
There is also a storyline about Hackenberg being “so bad” the Jets would not put him on the field as a rookie. But their plan was never to have him play last year. The Jets knew when they drafted him that they wanted him to hit the reset button from college and try to reverse all of the bad habits he had developed at Penn State. They also wanted him to take a break from the spotlight that had been on him since high school. It would have been a shock if Hackenberg did play in 2016. You can say the Jets should not have taken a quarterback in the second round that they thought needed a “redshirt” year. Go ahead, but that is on Jets GM Mike Maccagnan, not Hackenberg.
The critics may end up being right about Hackenberg. He might stink, but can we let him throw a pass in a game before we decide he does?
The kid (he turned 22 in February) has been a total pro since he has joined the Jets. He says the right things, carries himself the right way and this spring has been one of (if not the) first players in the building every day. This is not a player who will fail because of lack of preparation or work.
The likelihood is Hackenberg will begin this season on the bench behind Josh McCown. But he will play at some point in 2017. The Jets need to figure out if he is the answer or if they are in the 2018 quarterback draft market by the end of this season.
There will be plenty of practice and preseason interceptions and miscues that will be dissected between now and then. But maybe there will be some touchdowns and positive plays, too.
Give him a chance.