Did Jets make a mistake with Christian Hackenberg?

When the New York Jets selected quarterback Christian Hackenberg in the 2016 NFL Draft, they knew exactly what they were getting. Hackenberg, at least for the next year or two, is a project worth developing.

Make no mistake about it, Christian Hackenberg will one day be a decent quarterback in the NFL. The New York Jets took a chance on him due to his skill-set and belief that if he can be completely retrained and coached from scratch, he could be a very good starting quarterback.

Related Story: Christian Hackenberg will need years to grow

The problem is, when you’re in the city that never sleeps, expectations are high and time is of the essence. Fans of the Jets aren’t the most patient bunch but Hackenberg is actually worth waiting on since he’s being developed the right way.

For decades now, the track record of the Jets developing quarterbacks leaves much to the imagination. They had this very inefficient and dumb philosophy of acquiring overpriced veteran quarterbacks that served nothing more than band-aids for the real problems.

The best teams in the NFL all draft and develop franchise quarterbacks the right way. Not everyone will be able to be successful right out the gates like Andrew Luck or have a Cinderella story like Dak Prescott. The majority of the time, potential franchise quarterbacks will need lots of time, coaching, and patience invested in them for years before blossoming towards success.

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The Jets, for once, are doing it the right way. They did it with Bryce Petty and are doing it again with Hackenberg. In the grand scheme of things, no, the Jets didn’t make a mistake drafting Hackenberg. For a team that’s been horrendous when it comes to their quarterback situation, it’s great to see that Petty is developing nicely and Hackenberg should be on his way to a similar situation next year.

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Hackenberg should hopefully be ready to be a decent backup quarterback in 2017 with Petty leading the way as the starter. It’s an exciting time for the Jets and as long as they once again don’t go back to making dumb personnel moves by trading or acquiring a veteran quarterback past their prime, should be fine. They need to stick with Petty and continue developing Hackenberg so when his time comes, he’ll also be ready to prove his worth.