It’s time for Jets to say goodbye to Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg

The New York Jets are revamping their quarterback situation for next season as their latest moves could signal an even bigger move in April. It’s time to say goodbye to both Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg.

At the start of free agency, the New York Jets made two big moves to change things up when it comes to their quarterback situation. No, as much as Jets fans would have loved to have landed quarterback Kirk Cousins, he’s taking his talents to the Minnesota Vikings.

The Jets were in the thick of being the final teams that Cousins was interested in but at the end of the day, they couldn’t secure a finalized deal. They then resorted to Plan B which meant that it was a no-brainer to bring back quarterback Josh McCown on a short-term deal.

McCown agreed to a one-year/$10 million contract that will keep him with the Jets all through 2018. It was a move that made a plethora of sense since either he’ll be starting in Week 1 (the Jets have already said he’s their starter going into next season) or be a solid backup option for whoever beats him out in training camp.

In addition to McCown, the Jets sent shockwaves throughout the football world when it was announced they also agreed to terms with another quarterback. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is coming to town. Just like McCown, Bridgewater signed a one-year/$5 million deal that could be worth up to $15 million if he ends up starting, playing well, and ends up winning football games.

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What does this all mean in the grand scheme of things for quarterback Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg? Clearly, the Jets want to rebuild the right way and especially at quarterback, the most important position on the team. Unfortunately, McCown isn’t the answer and neither is Bridgewater.

The answer lies in the 2018 NFL Draft. At this point in time, the Jets own the No. 6 overall pick and whether they trade to move up in the draft order or sit pat and go best player available, expect them to draft their future franchise quarterback in April.

You can forget about Petty since he was so bad last season, it was the final nail in the coffin of another losing season. Petty was abysmal and looked like he significantly regressed to the point of no return. It would be shocking to see if he was still on the roster by training camp.

You can also forget about Hackenberg who must be such a bad quarterback, the Jets didn’t even bother to give him so much as a single snap during a regular season game for the past two years. One would think considering how bad Petty was playing and that McCown was out for the season with a broken hand injury last year, they would have at least given Hackenberg a shot. Especially when they were mathematically eliminated from the NFL Playoffs and had nothing to play for except pride.

Hackenberg, as much as the Jets probably will never admit it, was a mistake. General manager Mike Maccagnan reached for him in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft when analysts and NFL draft gurus knew that Hackenberg would never cut it as a starter in the pros. He has major issues with accuracy, has problems reading defenses correctly, and makes pretty bad decisions on the gridiron when pressured. At least that is what was evident when Hackenberg got to play football in meaningless preseason games.

It’s time the Jets made the necessary cuts to pave the way for a new trio at quarterback in 2018. McCown, Bridgewater, and a rookie quarterback have a lot more promise than anything we saw last season and even back in 2016. Maybe the Jets will get lucky and Bridgewater reverts back to the same kind of player he once was. Maybe McCown will once again have another solid season and be a bridge quarterback for either Bridgewater or a rookie. Maybe something will happen where it ends up being a rookie quarterback that starts and takes the NFL by storm if everything falls into place.

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Either way, something new and hopefully exciting is on the horizon with the Jets and their quarterback situation in the future. Who knows what will ultimately transpire but one thing is undoubtedly certain. There is no way the Jets will go into training camp with so many quarterbacks on the roster as it’s time to cut Petty and Hackenberg and move on once and for all.