Rotoworld: Jets Have Worst QB Situation In The NFL

It won't come as a surprise to anyone to learn that the Jets QB situation is less than ideal. In fact, if you read Rotoworld you would have noticed that they believe the Jets have the worst situation in the league. Now I don't necessarily disagree with that, I think the 49'ers are right there with us, but it's hard to argue that we're right at the bottom.

Here is what Rotoworld had to say:

32. Jets, Josh McCown/Christian Hackenberg/Bryce Petty

Last Year’s Ranking: 32

This is not a quarterback room. It’s a cry for help. You can see the smoke signals, sent via dumpster fire, from space. The Jets have surrendered on the 2017 season months before it’s even begun. In some ways, that’s good. Forcing a quarterback “solution” only creates more problems down the road. But how could you let your franchise end up in this position? Josh McCown is 38 (in July) and can’t play more than 2-3 series before his collarbone starts to ache. Christian Hackenberg is one of the most stupendous follies in recent NFL history. The takeaway from his final three seasons at Penn State was that he couldn’t play. Ignoring two years of film, the Jets made him the No. 51 overall pick and … he couldn’t play. Hackenberg was so bad in the preseason the Jets pretended he didn’t exist down the stretch of a lost season. He struggled in warmups. Typically, when a team without a legitimate starter has an early-round prospect, you have to physically restrain them from forcing Joe Rookie onto the field. Bryce Petty … maybe he picked up some more tips from Madden this offseason. The Jets’ quarterback is not in East Rutherford. He’s in college, waiting for 2018.

I'm not here to argue that we've got a poor situation, you can't argue that.

However I am going to stick up for Hackenberg here. He was never going to play in 2016, the Jets said that from the start. So the whole "he can't play" is absolute nonsense. He was taken as a developmental prospects and the Jets bookmarked the 2016 season as a redshirt one. What he did in warmups or pre-season is largely irrelevant. So he categorically did not play himself out of contention to play, he was never playing to begin with. The Jets did not "pretend he didn't exist", they merely stuck to the outlined plan, you can criticise the Jets for a lot of things... but you can't criticise them for having a plan, communicating that plan and then following through with said plan.

Hackenberg's tape in 2014 and 2015 wasn't great, but there were flashes and when you combine that with the 2013 tape and the raw physical traits. I think it's incredibly harsh to say that he showed he couldn't play. Hackenberg only played 3 years so the author must be including his rookie season, where the tape was actually very impressive.

I've seen some tape of Hackenberg from OTA's and while you can't learn a lot from QB's throwing in a clean pocket. His technique looks a hell of a lot better and unlike last year, he's actually showing touch on his passes. Will that mean anything when pre-season rolls around? We don't know.

Hackenberg is a huge question mark, but he's not the first raw QB to come into the league and he won't be the last. He seems to get overly criticised though. He hasn't played in the league by design, so how about we let him compete before we say he can't play, that's an incredibly harsh viewpoint to take.