Lichtenstein: Hackenberg Pick Brings Back Nightmares Of Past Jets Draft Bungles
By Steve Lichtenstein
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"The Jets just don't understand what the draft is all about."
Those words, deriding the Jets' baffling tendency to "reach" for players before their appropriate draft-round value, were delivered by a then-relatively unknown Mel Kiper on ESPN after their 1989 selection of University of Virginia linebacker Jeff Lageman in the first round.
Those words have been haunting Jets fans ever since, and they reverberated in my head again late Friday night following Gang Green's second-round pick of Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg.
Mike Maccagnan has done a lot of good in his two offseasons as Jets general manager, but he's asking a tortured fan base to take a giant leap of faith here.
The 21-year-old Hackenberg dropped in many pre-draft rankings thanks to back-to-back mediocre seasons in college. His size (6-foot-4, 223 pounds) and arm strength are in line with modern-day pro quarterbacks, and he is not entirely immobile -- his 4.78 40-yard dash time at the NFL combine was the fourth-best for his position, a hair behind second-overall selection Carson Wentz.
However, quarterbacking is so much more than the sum of a player's physical tools. What separates the great from the good from the lousy is processing ability.
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So much happens before a ball is even thrown. Organizing and commanding a huddle. Pre-snap reads. Changing play calls and protection schemes. Analyzing receiver progressions and, finally, the decision as to what to do with the ball, even if you're under duress.
Hackenberg's stats after a decent freshmen year indicate he has a lot to learn. Not only was he inaccurate (54.8 percent completion percentage), he was prone to turnovers (21 interceptions) and took a ton (82) of sacks in his sophomore and junior seasons combined.
Drawing down further, he struggled when under pressure (44.2 percent completion percentage when facing five pass rushers, according to a scouting report on NFL.com) and his "big arm" only connected on 39.7 percent of passes that traveled more than 20 yards, which ranked 71st in the nation, per si.com.
Some of Hackenberg's game films were downright ugly. Maybe he was shell-shocked from all the hits he took playing behind a weak offensive line and in a spread system for which he wasn't entirely comfortable.
Still, his descent had to have spooked the few teams who were looking for a quarterback prospect that early in the draft.
So even if we concede that Maccagnan was indeed "blown away" by Hackenberg in private workouts and meetings, why the rush at No. 51 overall?
It had to be telling when Houston, coached by the man (Bill O'Brien) who recruited Hackenberg to Penn State and mentored him through his freshmen season, traded up to acquire the 50th overall pick right before the Jets -- only to draft a center, Nick Martin, from Notre Dame.
No other quarterback was chosen until some 40 spots later, when New England tabbed NC State's Jacoby Brissett near the end of the third round. Connor Cook, the Michigan State signal-caller who was rated by many as comparable or better than Hackenberg, wasn't taken until the fourth round by Oakland.
A second-round pick should be a player who you figure can compete for a starting job right away. Maccagnan and Jets coach Todd Bowles both acknowledged that won't happen with Hackenberg.
The Jets are still holding out hope that 2015 starter Ryan Fitzpatrick will eventually sign a true market-value contract and return to the team. If Fitzpatrick walks away, Bowles said the Jets are prepared to go into training camp with the much-reviled Geno Smith as the presumptive starter, not Hackenberg.
Smith also came to the Jets as a second-rounder, anointed by then-GM John Idzik as the savior. He then became the poster child for all that has gone wrong in the Jets' war room during those rounds over the last 25 years.
Many are under the wrongful impression that it has been the first rounds that have yielded the only horror stories for Jets fans. A widely-viewed YouTube clip does indeed bring back nightmares of a litany of first-round mistakes, but the organization's more recent history has had its fair share of big hits.
However, take a look at the list of busts the Jets have selected in the second round since 1990. Even if you give Devin Smith and Jace Amaro a few more years before passing judgment, it's like there's a curse.
Going in reverse chronological order: Devin Smith, Amaro, Geno Smith, Stephen Hill, Vlad Ducasse, David Harris, Kellen Clemens, Mike Nugent, Justin Miller, Victor Hobson, Jon McGraw, Lamont Jordan, Randy Thomas, Dorian Boose, Rick Terry, Alex Van Dyke, Matt O'Dwyer, Ryan Yarborough, Coleman Rudolph, Kurt Barber, Browning Nagle, and Reggie Rembert.
With the limited exceptions of Harris, Thomas and O'Dwyer, that's some record of futility.
The quarterback position certainly was a priority on Maccagnan's agenda throughout the free agency signing period and this draft. A most optimistic outcome of the Fitzpatrick standoff would be for the 33-year-old to reprise his role as a placeholder for whomever Maccagnan chose as the heir apparent.
Neither Smith, based on his past performances, nor Petty, based on Maccagnan's reach for Hackenberg, appear to be the long-term solution to the Jets' long-lasting woes behind center.
But it's also true that the Jets have other pressing needs (offensive line, defensive backfield) that could have been addressed at that moment with more of a "best player available" approach. Maccagnan's use of a second-round draft pick for Hackenberg is the equivalent of putting all of your eggs in a very flimsy basket.
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