On Wednesday, Christian Hackenberg did his best Matt Ryan impression. Last week, it was Jay Cutler. The week before that was Tom Brady.
This is life for the second-year Jets quarterback right now. He and Bryce Petty split duties as the scout-team quarterback in practice, giving the Jets starting defense practice against that week’s opponent’s offense. Hackenberg likes studying the opponent and trying to give the Jets defense an accurate look to practice against. Some quarterbacks are tougher to emulate than others.
“Tyrod’s tough,” Hackenberg said, referring to Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who is a bit more mobile than Hackenberg. “We’ve got scramble drills and it’s like, ‘Come on now.’”
You might expect Hackenberg to be saying, “Come on now” to the Jets coaches. Sunday marks the halfway point of his second year in the NFL. Hackenberg has yet to take a snap in the regular season. He has been active for just two games in his career — the final game of last season and the first game of this season. In both instances, Petty was injured.
But Hackenberg remains upbeat. There is no sense of frustration with him.
“Obviously you want to play,” Hackenberg said. “Every guy in this locker room wants to play. Everyone is competitive. You need to be able to take a step back. I’ve said it over and over. There are multiple cases of quarterbacks who have sat and watched and learned and when they get their opportunity they roll. There’s a million different ways to skin this cat. That’s been proven over time.”
Hackenberg is correct. People can point to Aaron Rodgers or Carson Palmer as quarterbacks who benefited from time on the bench before starting. Those days in the NFL seem to be fading, though. Of the 10 quarterbacks drafted in the first five rounds last year, only Hackenberg has not played. Four rookie quarterbacks have already started this season.
“I think, just in general, people have that perception that you’ve got to go in, you’ve got to have success now, you’ve got to play now, you’ve got to do this now,” Hackenberg said. “Sometimes it works out that way. Sometimes it doesn’t. Just being as positive as you can throughout that path and then understanding that my path isn’t going to be the same as someone else’s and someone else’s isn’t going to be the same as mine. I just need to do what I’ve got to do with my opportunities when they come. That’s kind of how I look at it.”
Some Jets fans are wondering when that next opportunity will come for Hackenberg. The belief entering this season was that Josh McCown was merely a placeholder before the team went to Hackenberg to see what the young quarterback was capable of. Two things have muddled the picture, though. Petty jumped Hackenberg on the depth chart after training camp, pushing Hackenberg to the No. 3 spot. The other development has been the play of McCown. The 38-year-old has played well and has the Jets at an unexpected 3-4. The discussion of when to look ahead to 2018 has been delayed.“Patience is the name of the game right now,” Hackenberg said. “It’s just not my time yet. I’m just going to continue to keep working and look forward to that next opportunity and be able to go with it. Every day is a learning experience whether in the classroom or even on Sundays. You can learn a lot on Sundays watching.”
McCown said he’s been impressed with how hard Hackenberg works. He said Hackenberg does extra throwing on Mondays when the team does not practice and is constantly trying to improve.
“At some point, who knows when it will be, he’ll get an opportunity,” McCown said. “I always tell young quarterbacks it’s not ‘if’ because you are going to get an opportunity. That’s how this league works. When you do, are you ready? How prepared can you be? He’s doing a good job of keeping himself as ready as possible.”