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NFL Draft 2016: Jets did homework on Hackenberg others didn't; now it's his turn to repay them
on April 30, 2016 at 7:30 AM, updated April 30, 2016 at 4:25 PM
Christian Hackenberg has regressed from a quarterback projected in September 2014 by some folks as a possible No. 1 overall pick in this NFL Draft to disparaged by some much more recently as not worth drafting at all.
He has taken steps back for reasons we've discussed ad nauseam. Well, actually some people obsessed more with metrics and tape clips than actually watching whole games think there aren't any valid reasons. I've stated many times that Penn State's chronic offensive line dysfunction and an ill-suited coaching staff the last two years mean everything and have led to mistakes, bad footwork and subsequent inaccuracy that cannot be explained when taken out of their context.
Some people who look at tape do not recognize that gradual regression because they have not been here to witness it in person and feel all the forces at work. They see only many individual gaffes for which they cannot rationalize.
I can. I believe there's still a starting NFL quarterback locked inside Hackenberg. But I also believed he needed the right place and people around him to make that happen. There is maintenance to be done and anyone who must do it while in the NFL must be a very quick study. Hackenberg needed a little time and space.
In the New York Jets, he should get at least a little bit of that time and the right people to nurture his game back to health. It could have gone the other way very easily with any of 20 or more franchises. But Hackenberg was fortunate enough to land in a good situation for him in New York. I ranked the Jets as his fifth-best possible landing spot a couple of weeks ago. I'm not going to say if he can't make it there, he can't make it anywhere. But his draft by the Jets with the 51st overall pick on Friday night is going to give him a shot.
In head coach Todd Bowles, the Jets have an accomplished defensive mind who pretty much leaves the ball-side scheming to low-ego, 64-year-old coordinator Chan Gailey, a two-time NFL head coach himself (Dallas, Buffao), though not an accomplished one.
But, as an OC, Gailey has been very good with young and marginal quarterbacks, particularly rehab jobs. Ryan Fitzpatrick progressed last year under his tutelage after struggling at times with the Texans under Bill O'Brien. Granted, the Texans had a lot fewer weapons for Fitzpatrick to use than the Jets have. More on that in a minute.
Gailey also was the man behind the remarkable one-shot ascent of Kordell Stewart when the Steelers went to the AFC championship in 1997 under Bill Cowher. When Gailey left, Stewart's career imploded.
There were also stints under Dave Wannstedt with the Dolphins and Herman Edwards with the Chiefs where Gailey was given extremely limited resources (Jay Fiedler in Miami, Tyler Thigpen in Kansas City).
Farther back, Gailey was quarterback coach for a young John Elway under Dan Reaves with the Broncos in the late '80s, a tenure that didn't go well but also is so long ago it hardly matters.
So, where do we stand in this year's crop of Big Ten quarterbacks entering tonight's NFL Draft? No guarantee the conference's 21-year first-round QB drought will be broken. Here's how I stack the competition for the most likely conference signal-callers to hear their names called tonight, tomorrow or Saturday in Chicago.
If you see a pattern here, it's that Gailey has almost always worked under defensive-minded head coaches and encouraged to run modest offenses. But he's adaptable. Since the Cowher days, he's jettisoned power ground stuff and run a rather basic spread offense where the O-line usually gets extra help in protection and the field stretches are mainly horizontal. Though it's not as much fun for the OC, that's not necessarily a bad thing for Hackenberg who won't be overloaded with endless super-genius variations as he might under an offensive-whiz head coach.
The QB coach is Kevin Patullo, a young 7-year NFL assistant who's worked extensively with Gailey at two prior stops in Kansas City and Buffalo.
About that weaponry: Hackenberg could not ask for a better squadron of disparate receivers who mesh together. In big, strong Brandon Marshall and 6-3 slot man Eric Decker, the Jets have a pair of proven Velcro guys with uncommon size. Put it in the area code and they go get it. In Ohio State grad Devin Smith, who under-performed last year then tore his ACL, they have a race car who can potentially stretch defenses if he comes around. The Jets spent the 37th overall pick on him last year, so they expect him to.
The offensive line performed very well a year ago – top 10 in both pass protection and run production – but there are some questions. It is getting old. Mainstay left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson retired three weeks ago. Seven-time Pro Bowler center Nick Mangold is graying. The Jets did not address those OL needs in the Draft on Thursday or Friday, taking outside linebackers Darron Lee (Ohio State) and Jordan Jenkins (Georgia) on either side of Hackenberg in the first and third rounds.
And then there's the nagging concern of Fitzpatrick and his contract impasse. He's holding out of OTAs and reportedly has not been in contact with GM Mike Maccagnan in a couple of weeks.
Of course, that can only get Hackenberg and would-be back-up Bryce Petty more work in the meantime. And with Hackenberg's draft in round 2, it appears the Geno Smith Era is over.
There is a reason the Jets believe in this pick. They have been interested in Hackenberg for a couple of years and clearly think they see something peripheral analysts do not. Maccagnan and director of college scouting Rex Hogan both attended PSU's pro day in State College last month and, by all accounts, Hackenberg threw the hell out of the ball as they watched.
What the Jets personnel saw presumably did not open their eyes but merely confirmed what they sensed was there all along. They've shown their faith. Now, it's Hackenberg's turn to validate it.