Jets 2017 Roster Breakdown: Is Christian Hackenberg Starting Material?

Our Jets roster countdown now moves to Christian Hackenberg.

Name: Christian Hackenberg

Number: 5

Year with Jets: 2nd

Projected Role: Likely Week 1 backup sliding into starting role if/when Josh McCown falters

His 2016: The Jets drafted Hackenberg in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft and announced they wanted to give him a year on the bench. They were not kidding. The team kept four quarterbacks at the start of the regular season, and Hackenberg was fourth on the depth chart. A pair of injuries led him to finish the season as the number two guy, but the Jets did not even put him on the field for a snap in a meaningless Week 17 game against the Bills. Hackenberg got a temporary reprieve in the offseason as the Jets did not select a quarterback in the 2017 NFL Draft.

2017 will be a success if: Hackenberg shows he is on a franchise quarterback trajectory. There really can’t be any other way to call this season a success. That reprieve from the last section only lasts one year. The Jets may be in a position to draft a quarterback high in 2018. Unless Hackenberg looks the part of a franchise quarterback this year, it will be tough to pass. What does success look like? If you want a rough statistical estimate, let’s say at least a 61% completion percentage, at least 7 yards per attempt, at least 3,400 yards passing, and a TD-INT ratio of around 2-1. You can’t only judge a quarterback by stats. There might be scenarios where he falls short of a few of those marks, and the season is a success. There might be scenarios where he hits all of them, and it isn’t. Those are rough benchmarks, though.

Odds of making the roster: Lock (>99%)