Come on this pick is being praised by no one it is not just me. It is my opinion because you like Hack does not make it a good pick. By all normal standards this was a stretch pick at round 2. Hack might defy the odds and be great in the NFL but the fact remains not many (I cant think of any) Qb's with subpar accuracy survive in the NFL. I hope I am wrong and that Mac is agenius but where he was picked is a stretch with all ??????? surrounding him. Again, Please tell one Franchise QB in the history of the NFL that sucked in college?
My biggest problem with this pick is that even at the combine or at his pro day he was missing receivers over\under throwing them. In shorts and T-shirt. I guess Gailey must think he has the magic formula to fix this as well but I really hope he gets to sit a year if not two!
Matt Hasselbeck sucked big time in college (statistically) and went on to a pretty good career throwing for +200 TDs. He did get drafted in the 6th round however... as well as being a back-up for 2 full years. http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/matt-hasselbeck-1.html
If Tom Brady were drafted in the 2nd round, would that be a bad pick (because through hindsight we know he would have lasted through the 6th round)? Incidentally, Brady's college stats were OK, but not great (and he had much more talent around him at Michigan than Hack had at Penn State). We don't know where Hack would have gone had the Jets not drafted him in the 2nd round. I suspect the Jets felt he wouldn't have been there in the third round for them and didn't want to take a chance. If you use a 2nd round pick for someone who has a legitimate chance to be a franchise QB, then that's a good use of the 2nd round pick.
He kind of reminds me of Jay Cutler coming out of college. Talented QB that was on a shitty team. Cutler was 11-34 at Vandy (he won 11 games in 4 years!!!), and was a project for Denver when he was selected at #11, first round. Granted, it didn't quite work out there, but he has managed to stick around the league longer than the two QBs picked before him. I can't believe some of you guys are complaining about drafting a potential franchise QB in the 2nd round. Christ, Jets fans will never be happy with anything.
Why do we care who thinks the pick was good or not? Jaworski thought Kellen Clemens was better than Aaron Rodgers and Blaine Gabbert was better than Cam Newton. Talking heads are mostly just that, I mean we all have biases but I've got a lot of faith in Bowles, Mac, Gailey, Patullo and myself(I always wanted Hack.)
Good article on Hackenberg... http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2632381-christian-hackenberg-the-mystery-man-of-the-nfl-draft
Brady was good to very good in college and pretty clutch if memory serves me correctly. This is the anti Brady pick Brady was not drafted high because of perceived lack of athleticism not his college production. Hack it is his physical tools with a pretty bad resume inc at best. My biggest issue with Hack is his accuracy, strong arm can read defenses mean nothing if you throw inaccurately you cant play in the NFL. In defense of your post if you Mac honestly believes he will be a Franchise QB you draft him. Let's be honest the odds are stacked really high against him.
Not to take anything away from Bryce Petty, but I'm pretty confident there's no chance that Hackenberg would've been available come the 4th round as Petty was last year. For our GM & coaching staff to not only take Petty during the 4th round last year but to also draft Hackenberg during the 2nd round of this year's draft, to me? Speaks volumes of what type of prospect our front office truthfully see's Hackenberg as being. Which imo is a very good one. Work on his mechanics & foot work as all young developing QB's must do, continue to surround our QB position with talent & pass protection and i see no reason why Hackenberg can not transition into a franchise quarterback. I will go on record saying this; this kid is mentally tougher than any QB coming out of this years draft class and/or been through the most. Lost O'Brien after his Freshman season. Then had to learn a completely new playbook within a completely different system after the departure of O'Brien. During his final two seasons this kid was quarterbacking under center behind A.) An awful offensive line & B.) Surrounded by lackluster offensive talent with unpolished college WR's. Not only that, but he lived through all of this during a time in which PSU's university were being punished by the NCAA ala not being able to bring in top-notch recruits out of H.S. But yet our G.M still took this kid come the 2nd round of the draft. That tells me something & speaks volumes within itself. It's a moot point to bring up his "college statistics" when most kid QB's would've wanted no part of Hackenbergs less than ideal situations/challenging surroundings while with PSU. Most would've ran away from those circumstances but not this Hackenberg kid. Heck the kid had plenty of chances to transfer to any other college program within the Nation, but he took his commitment to PSU personal. Took pride in fighting for his teammates. Refused to quit on his team and basically just kept coming back for more. Never complained about it. Say what you say but he showed character. He's not a quitter. And has lots of heart within. I love the pick. Take any QB that went before Hackenberg. Have them lose O'Brien after their 1st year as a Freshman. Stick them within a completely new offensive system during the next two years. New playbook with different schemes. Give them unpolished receivers. Put them under center behind (pretty much) a High School offensive line with zero pass protection ability. Give them a penalized school to QB for while being punished by the NCAA as player's transferred to other schools etc and i bet none of them would've been drafted before the 5th or 6th round. But yea. It's easy to knock Hackenberg due to stats (when not looking/talking about the big picture) when talking up other college QB's. I like the idea of two young QB's taken during the 4th & 2nd rounds over the past two drafts. Let's face it it's been forever since we've had a real franchise caliber QB.
Someone already mentioned this but it could have been awful if this guy landed on the Pats. If he's really so great at knowing what plays the Pats are running presnap, someone needs to give him a mic into the defensive headset.
http://draftbreakdown.com/players/christian-hackenberg/ Look at some of the film here. They tend to show every pass attempt and the characterization of Hackenberg as a thrower who throws too hard and puts some english on the ball is not inaccurate. The Minnesota game in 2013 is a really good chance to see him hanging his receivers out to dry. Allen Robinson and one of the backs bails him out on a fairly regular basis. There are some good throws mixed in with the bad but it's not hard to see why people have doubts about his accuracy and touch. On the bright side, he throws a very hard ball and some potential picks are definitely going to get dropped because they are not handleable. FWIW, Brady didn't have great touch at Michigan either. He developed a lot of his smooth delivery and great touch on the job in NE. If Hackenberg idolizes Brady the way it appears he does then it might well be incentive to pick up the good traits as he learns.
Br*dy warmed the bench for years in college. when finally getting his shot, he wasn't very good. as a fourth year junior, he was even benched in favor of freshman Drew Henson.
Passing Passing Year School Conf Class Pos G Cmp Att Pct Yds Y/A AY/A TD Int Rate 1996 Michigan Big Ten QB 2 3 5 60.0 26 5.2 -3.8 0 1 63.7 1997 Michigan Big Ten QB 4 12 15 80.0 103 6.9 6.9 0 0 137.7 1998 Michigan Big Ten QB 12 200 323 61.9 2427 7.5 7.0 14 10 133.1 1999 Michigan Big Ten QB 11 180 295 61.0 2217 7.5 7.7 16 6 138.0 Career Michigan 395 638 61.9 4773 7.5 7.2 30 17 134.9 He was pretty good falling victim once again to the Prototypical QB Drew Hensen , who by the way really did suck. We will see I hope that I am wrong and can fix mechanics and David Carr syndrome in the NFL.
I don't know if he will be. I think that he could be a franchise QB. I think his accuracy issues are tied to his mechanics and I think they'll get that fixed. To be clear, there are numerous first round QB busts. At best, I'd say you have maybe a 50% chance of a high first round pick becoming a franchise QB (not just an OK QB, but a franchise QB) and that's probably high, I think its probably closer to a third. Most of the first round busts are as a result of not being able to successfully perform the mental aspects of what is required to be an NFL QB - calling protections, pre-snap reads, calling plays at the line and generally reading defenses. Every QB being drafted in the early to mid rounds has the physical tools to be able to be an NFL QB - the questions is do they have the mental tools to be able to handle the mental part of being an NFL QB. Unlike most QBs coming out of college, Hack was required to handle the mental aspects of being an NFL QB and he did it fairly well. The Gruden QB camp video is interesting because Hack specifically discusses calling protections and pre-snap reads. I think Chan and his staff will fix Hack's mechanics. Will Hack become a franchise QB? I don't think anyone can tell you that. I do think he has the tools to becomes a franchise QB and that's all you can ask for from a 2nd round pick.
I'd gladly be wrong and you be right on this. Who does he remind you of? Where do you think his ceiling is? Do you think he can be the next Brady, or Manning or are we looking at a ceiling of say Matt Ryan or Stafford? Like I said he reminds me a lot of Browning Nagle, who wasn't as tall but had the rocket attached to his arm. Zolak was another guy with the huge frame and cannon arm.
