The New York Jets may be trading Christian Hackenberg to the Houston Texans this offseason, according to reports.
When the New York Jets officially file the trade that sends Christian Hackenberg to a different team this offseason. Hack will join a long list of former second-round busts for the green and white.
Hackenberg hasn’t taken a regular-season snap in his Jets career and, according to ESPN Insider Rich Cimini, he may never get that chance:
“Hackenberg could be shopped in trade talks, although it’s hard to imagine any team showing interest. The one exception could be the Houston Texans, coached by Bill O’Brien, Hackenberg’s first coach at Penn State.”
The entire quarterback room could be different come 2018:
- Josh McCown is a pending free agent. He has expressed interest in returning and the Jets wouldn’t mind having him back, but that’s only if they can’t do better. Kirk Cousins is firmly in the Jets’ sights and even if they swing and miss, Gang Green could look at other options before coming back to McCown.
- Bryce Petty is what he is, a career backup. He’s also 100 percent gone this offseason. The Jets are going to bring in free agents and likely draft a quarterback regardless of what happens.
- While Hackenberg has potential and could stay as the developmental third-string QB, that seems unlikely. If that isn’t a sign that Hackenberg failed with the Jets, I don’t know what is.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I had an epiphany this week on a brutal truth with Jets fans. The most popular player any given year on the Jets is the backup quarterback.
If the starter struggles, Jets fans are quick to start chanting the backup QB’s name. The narrative is “Well, we don’t know what (insert player’s name) has until we see him in action.” But think about this for a minute, the Jets are as quarterback-starved as any other franchise in the league.
Over the last two years, the Jets have had horrible situations at quarterback and at no point did the brass ever seriously consider playing Hackenberg in a game, doesn’t that say anything to anyone else?
If Hackenberg truly showed something in practice wouldn’t the Jets have been curious to see what he has? What did they have to lose?
I’ve got to break it to you Jets fans, this is not a ‘fine wine gets better with age’ scenario. But that’s what I’d be selling if I was Mike Maccagnan to a prospective team like the Houston Texans.
Bill O’Brien is a quarterback whisperer and was the head honcho when Hackenberg showed the potential as a future No. 1 pick as a freshman at Penn State. If anyone can get the most out of him, it’s O’Brien. Although if the Jets call up the Texans and general manager Mike Maccagnan, who used to work there, can’t strike a deal with the one man who knows Hackenberg best, then perhaps the Jets should simply cut bait and stop wasting their time.
I’d much rather the Jets admit to their mistake and move on as opposed to pretending Hackenberg is a diamond in the rough who needs more tender love and care to succeed. But if Maccagnan can get anything of value back for Hackenberg, that’ll be another major win on his resume.
