The New York Jets to redshirt Christian Hackenberg?

The New York Jets have decided up to this point not to play rookie quarterback Christian Hackenberg in a preseason game.

This is one of the more curious situations of training camp as the New York Jets try to work on developing a long-term plan at the quarterback position. Obviously, the Jets see Christian Hackenberg as that guy based on the fact they drafted him in the 2nd round of the 2016 draft.

However, they have yet to insert him into game action which speaks to the fact that they don’t plan on using him during the regular season. New York will go with Ryan Fitzpatrick as the starter this year and hope he leads them to a playoff berth.

The real battle during training camp as been for the backup job between Geno Smith and Bryce Petty. It’s likely that the loser of this competition is traded or released.

More from With the First Pick

My bet is that someone offers the Jets a solid package to acquire Petty. He’s a younger quarterback who has shown signs of progress throughout the preseason. In fact, he has actually looked better than Smith at times.

There are more than a few teams that could be interested in Petty including the New York Giants, Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers and Pittsburgh Steelers. All of these teams either have backup quarterback openings or lack a young developmental-type quarterback.

As for Hackenberg, the Jets are working to correct some mechanical issues and slowly get him up to speed. The fact that New York feels he needs this much work and isn’t ready to see game action does beg the question on why the Jets drafted him in the first place.

Maybe the bigger question is why they felt he was worthy of a 2nd round pick for a team that has playoff aspirations. The Jets could’ve use that pick to upgrade other areas of the roster rather than selecting a long-term project.

Home/NFL Draft News