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Big Mac still believes in the Hack Attack


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Jets GM in denial with Hackenberg problem looming

 

Christian Hackenberg is 25 games into his NFL career, but he has yet to play a snap. The Jets’ second-year quarterback is third on the depth chart. With Josh McCown playing well, Hackenberg could go his first two years in the league without playing at all.

But don’t tell the man who drafted the former Penn State quarterback with the 51st pick in 2016 that Hackenberg’s sluggish development is discouraging.

“I think the one thing with any player is they all develop at different paces and different rates,” general manager Mike Maccagnan said Wednesday at his midseason address to the media. “I think [the preseason] was good experience for Christian. I think we got an idea of areas where he still needs to improve upon, like every young player. I wouldn’t necessarily say [I’m] discouraged.”

 

How could he not be?

Maccagnan took Hackenberg in the second round, a premium pick where you expect some impact from the player in his first two seasons. Instead, Hackenberg has been active for just two games — both when Bryce Petty was injured.

The Jets gave Hackenberg every opportunity this summer to win the starting job, but he stumbled. He finished the preseason 32-of-74 (56.8 percent) for 372 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He had a quarterback rating of just 68.1 and led the Jets to points on five of his 36 drives.

Modal Triggerhack2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300&str
Hackenberg has been active for two games in two seasons and not played.AP

“I think Christian has done some positive things,” Maccagnan said. “There are areas he still needs to improve upon, but I’m encouraged with the work him and Bryce are putting in. … They’re developing players. We’ll see how they develop moving forward.”

The thought entering this season was the Jets would let McCown start the season, but at some point the team would need to play Hackenberg to evaluate him before making a decision whether to draft a quarterback next spring. But McCown has played better than anyone expected and pushed off any transition date at the position.

If the season slips away from the Jets over the next month, Hackenberg could see time late in the season. But if the Jets keep winning and McCown stays healthy, there is a chance Maccagnan would have to make a decision on Hackenberg this winter without having seen him take a snap in a game that counts.

“I don’t think there’s a prerequisite of what we need or don’t need to do,” Maccagnan said. “I think the one thing is we’ll see how this season progresses. We still have seven games left to play. As I mentioned before, you don’t know how the season will unfold.”

 

Maccagnan has drafted two quarterbacks in his time as Jets GM: Hackenberg and Petty. Neither has shown he can be the answer for the team’s decades-long search for a franchise quarterback. This past spring, Maccagnan did not draft a quarterback. The Jets could have taken Deshaun Watson at No. 6, but selected safety Jamal Adams instead. Before Watson tore his ACL and needed season-ending surgery, that decision looked like one that could come back to bite the Jets. Maccagnan said he won’t second-guess himself.

 

“When you go through your draft process, you sit back and you analyze, a few years removed, to see how your players did, but I feel very good about the players and the decisions we made,” he said. “We obviously feel good about the players we took. Obviously, Deshaun was doing a very good job for Houston. … But from our standpoint, I tend to look forward in things like that. You don’t go back and play the what-if game.”

The Jets took Adams in the first round and fellow safety Marcus Maye in the second round. Both have had strong rookie seasons.

“For the two young players to come in and play not only as well as they’ve played, but also from an intangible standpoint, we feel we have two very good young players at that position,” Maccagnan said. “It’s interesting. When you watch the energy they bring to practice, it’s a real positive going forward that we feel good about. We thought very highly of both players in the college draft process, and they both have come in and performed, in our minds, very well.”

 

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So basically, this was a blue-shirt season and everything is fine next year because they have the yellow-shirt option.  

Preseaon was not discouraging because tons of areas of improvement where identified.  

There is no specific way to handle the QB position, so why play him?  Much better just throwing sh*tty vets at the position and hold out for hope in the "developing" young guys.  However, all players are different in terms of how quickly they develop yet some get twice as long a leash to develop because said player could put egg on your face so lets hold out for hope.  In fact, some get to just hang out on an NFL roster learning the game with zero expectations to ever even take a snap while others don't get so lucky.  

We could have Deshaun but energy/leader of men stuff is very important at practice and heavens knows Deshaun does not bring energy or lead men and stuff. 

You sit back an analyze the draft a few years removed, however, when passing on possibly a great franchise changing player, Mac prefers not to look back and play the what if game. 

I'd say the QB position is in great hands, guys. 

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5 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

I want to see the Tattoo of his wife in the Hack jersey before I buy into this. 

What color jersey is he wearing, his red shirt from rookie year or his blue shirt from his 2nd rookie year...or are you more of a future type guy and want his yellow-shirt for his 3rd rookie year. 

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These young players are making a huge impact this season & starting to come on strong. Lee, Jenkins, Adams. I don't think there is anything wrong with developing a 22 year old guy by having someone as well versed in the NFL as McCown. It's crazy being a Jet fan, as Sanchez was just thrown into the fray & after he burned out all I saw was he should have been brought along more slowly, which is it?

He might never end up an NFL QB, but sitting for a few years is not the end of the world. I have a strong feeling he'll be better than Brett Hundley. McCown is the 13th ranked QB in the NFL, completing 70% of his passes. It was a 2nd round pick, we've blown 2nd rounders for years on end until Maye this year. Wasn't Petty 24 when drafted him?

Plenty of QB options to come this offseason, let's hope Macc makes a great choice or move to acquire one. 

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5 minutes ago, Kleckineau said:

Anyone else think McCag is feeling certain the defense is going to be a killer next year esp with that 1st round corner he is eyeballing? Of course he just knows next year Hackenberg will be ready to explode onto the scene.

Pretty sure we pass on both Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson in favor of Hack Attack and another 3 years of McClown

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Mahomes is 22, Trubisky is 23, Watson is 22, Hack is 22. If nothing else he is still young and could possibly develop, not really costing us much, already spent the pick on him can't get it back at this point. The roster spot is more of an issue in my mind. Not sure why anyone would blast Macc for saying what he said, not like he can come out at say "Hack is a bust I really screwed up on that one". Now if he decides not to get a QB this off season because of Hack's potential development, that would be inexcusable.

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Yea, he should have said "Geez Hack sucks, I havent seen any development at all and frankly Im not sure what is wrong with the kid"

This was a canned answer by Mac about a young player who happens to be a polarizing draft pick. Thats all

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1 minute ago, bla bla bla said:

Mahomes is 22, Trubisky is 23, Watson is 22, Hack is 22. If nothing else he is still young and could possibly develop, not really costing us much, already spent the pick on him can't get it back at this point. The roster spot is more of an issue in my mind. Not sure why anyone would blast Macc for saying what he said, not like he can come out at say "Hack is a bust I really screwed up on that one". Now if he decides not to get a QB this off season because of Hack's potential development, that would be inexcusable.

Hack is trash he has had 2 years to learn an NFL offense and can’t beat out McCown

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I love these threads. What do you expect any GM to say about a player on the roster? Super Bowl winning Mccarthy has acted as if Brett Hundley is ready for the Hall of Fame. This is what teams do. It would be retarded for him to come out and say, "yeah, Hack is on the roster. But he sucks and we will be drafting a QB high in next years draft so anyone looking to trade down should know in advance that we will overpay."

For however dumb Macc was for drafting Hack, you guys make him look like Bill Walsh. 

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1 hour ago, Jetster said:

He might never end up an NFL QB, but sitting for a few years is not the end of the world.

No.  Nothing wrong with a 2nd round pick sitting on the bench until his contract expires and then departing the league forever.  Nothing wrong at all with that.  Especially not when 90 % of this fanbase said this guy would never make it.  Nope, not a bad thing at all when the fans know better than the GM. 

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Hacks 100% total best case scenario is Tom Savage another guy drafted under Macs watch I believe.  Like Savage he may hang around the team for a few years not playing and when he does he will stink.  That is the best case scenario.  More than likely he will be the #3 guy again next year when they bring in a new drafted Qb, stick with mccown and cut petty.

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3 hours ago, Philc1 said:

Pretty sure we pass on both Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson in favor of Hack Attack and another 3 years of McClown

We'd be better off doing that.

Kinda hysterical that you'd complain about Hackenberg but turn around and want Lamar and Allen.

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This article, this thread, and the overreaction from a stupid GM speak press conference are absolutely ridiculous.

There are plenty of valid reasons to doubt Macc and question his vision.  Him not calling Hackenberg the literal spawn of Satan in a mid-season presser is not one of them.

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