Coffee with the Jets: An ultimatum for Mike Maccagnan

In this edition of Coffee with the New York Jets, an ultimatum for Mike Maccagnan for next year’s draft, what is holding Christian Hackenberg back, and where Gang Green currently is at in the race for a top-ten pick.

We here at The Jet Press hope you had an awesome Christmas and wouldn’t be surprised if when you checked under your Christmas tree, you were hoping to find a future franchise quarterback. Yeah, the majority of New York Jets fans probably had a longer than usual wish list when it came to Christmas gifts for the team but don’t worry, this offseason should be another wild one for Gang Green.

This past Sunday, on Christmas Eve, the Jets dropped yet another dud of a game, to the point where if you loved watching special teams and especially punts, you were undoubtedly thrilled. The Jets offense couldn’t do much of anything and well, it was an uninspired game which left many wanting the season to end already.

These Coffee with the Jets series feature a few of the latest articles on Gang Green from top sources on the internet. As always, these are perfect reading material alongside a hot cup of coffee.

More from The Jet Press

• NY Jets: Why the team should target cornerback Shaquill Griffin
• NY Jets reportedly non-tendering linebacker Harvey Langi
• NY Jets: Why the team should not cut Jamison Crowder
• NY Jets should try to sign Kenny Golladay in free agency
• NY Jets: Jonnu Smith would be a smart free-agent target

Time to put Jets GM Mike Maccagnan on notice — draft a franchise quarterback or else by Gary Myers (New York Daily News)

Santa is not leaving a franchise quarterback under Gang Green’s Christmas tree, so Maccagnan must find one. He is under immense pressure to fix the problem. He and Bowles pretty must received a free pass this year because of the lack of talent after the cuts, which they should have done in year one instead of year three, but now it’s all up to Maccagnan providing the Jets a quarterback with a big future.

Myers is 100 percent correct in that the spotlight is now on general manager Mike Maccagnan to finally fix the biggest area of opportunity on the Jets. Quarterback Bryce Petty isn’t the long-term answer as he has a very long way to go before he’s considered starting material. The Jets are either doing the right thing by continuing to sit Christian Hackenberg or are trying to hide the fact that they might have made a huge mistake in drafting him. Either way, maybe in his third season in the NFL, we’ll see what Hackenberg has learned but until then, Maccagnan needs to realize that there is a lot of hope and not enough reality with the most important position on the team. He needs to select a top quarterback in the 2018 NFL Draft before fans start calling for his removal.

The harsh Christian Hackenberg truth is setting in by Mark Cannizzaro (New York Post)

Most importantly, what must be going on in the mind of Hackenberg, who (if he chooses to) can scan the internet searching for another 2016 second-round draft pick who’s gone the last two years without getting into a game and not find one?

Speaking of Hackenberg, I’ve been watching professional football for over 30 years now and haven’t seen a franchise not at least give a second-round pick an opportunity to start if they’re out of playoff contention or at least get a few snaps in a regular season game after the fact. Either the Jets are hoping that maybe another season will be good for Hackenberg or they’re not embracing the fact that he’s not worth keeping around. At the end of the day, they have erasers on pencils for a reason since mistakes happen everywhere in life, professions, football, and everything else in between. It boggles the mind that the Jets won’t at least give Hackenberg a shot, especially with how terrible Petty played last Sunday. They have nothing to lose a lot more to gain by Hackenberg at least getting some valuable regular season experience under his belt.

2018 NFL Draft Order: Jets Now in 8th Position After Loss to Chargers by John B (Gang Green Nation)

The Jets are currently tied with Denver and San Francisco at 5-10, but those teams currently win the tiebreaker, giving them picks 6 and 7. The Jets are half a game “behind” Houston and a full game “behind” Tampa Bay for the 4th pick in the 2018 Draft.

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Since the season is pretty much over, now the attention shifts towards what should be an exciting offseason thanks to free agency and of course, the 2018 NFL Draft. Maccagnan has a lot of salary cap money to work with and should hopefully make the necessary decisions to continue rebuilding the Jets the right way. Clearly, they need a definitive answer at quarterback as the Jets can’t continue this vicious cycle of finding a “journeyman” quarterback that isn’t a long-term solution but rather just a band-aid. The Jets need to draft a young quarterback and build the right supporting cast around him over his first few years, especially with rebuilding their abysmal offensive line. If the Jets end up with the No. 8 overall pick, they have some tough decisions to make based on the needs of other teams and if it’s worth making some moves to move up a few spots to land a potential franchise quarterback with a tremendous amount of upside.