Christian Hackenberg set to debut against Redskins

As the New York Jets prepare for their Week 2 preseason game against the Washington Redskins, quarterback Christian Hackenberg got some great news from head coach Todd Bowles.

The New York Jets so far this preseason are 1-0 and are hitting the road to face the Washington Redskins in Week 2 action. Of course the hottest topic all offseason long has been the quarterback situation of the Jets and what the depth chart will look like at the end of summer.

As we all know, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick will be starting, his main backup is Geno Smith and Bryce Petty is third on the depth chart. There have been rumors circulating that the Jets might keep all four quarterbacks heading into the regular season or they might indeed cut one due to roster implications.

Regardless what will transpire when all is said and done, last week in their victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, three out of the four aforementioned quarterbacks saw playing time. Quarterback Christian Hackenberg didn’t make his preseason debut since he’s still absorbing a massive offensive playbook and making the tough transition from college to the pros.

It’s not an easy switch but Hackenberg has a high football IQ and this week so far in training camp, has been given many more reps to see if he can put everything together. The great news about that is he’s been given the green light by the Jets to make his preseason debut against the Redskins.

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It’s great to see that the Jets have been handling Hackenberg the right way since he was selected in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft labeled as a developmental player.

For his development and progression, it’s best to not rush him at all and give him some quality reps in preseason football to hone his craft even further.

While the jury is still out on how Hackenberg will develop over time, the past of the Jets and their terrible way of developing quarterbacks is over.

Thanks to general manager Mike Maccagnan and head coach Todd Bowles, they’re ushering in a new era of having a culture built around coaching, training, development and execution.

That’s why last week against the Jaguars, the leadership regime agreed since Hackenberg wasn’t given enough reps in training camp to warrant playing beforehand, he wouldn’t be under center at all. Now that he’s gotten acclimated to running the Jets’ offense in training camp, he’s ready to go as it’ll be great to see what he does against real opponents.

Courtesy of the Media Relations Department of the Jets, here is what Bowles said about the decision to have Hackenberg play against the Redskins:

On if he would like to get Christian Hackenberg reps on Friday…

That’s the plan. We’ll see how it works out.

On if Hackenberg has had enough practice reps to play in the game…

He’s gotten much more practice reps than he had the week before.

must read: Matt Forte makes debut in team drills

Overall, don’t give yourself high expectations for Hackenberg to come out and play lights out football. He’ll make his mistakes and undoubtedly learn from this as at the end of the day, preseason football is meaningless and mainly for guys like Hackenberg to get a small taste of the NFL.

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