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The Pope of the Jets weighed in on their quarterback situation, and it made a lot of news. Let’s look at what he said and weigh in as well.
Joe Namath is the Pope of the Jets. I don’t mean that as a flippant remark. He’s by far the most iconic player in Jets history, so when he weighs in on Jets matters, it always makes news.
This week he was asked about the Jets’ quarterback situation.
“I would like to see [Christian] Hackenberg,” Namath said. “I think we need someone for the future. This is no reflection on Josh. He’s a proven veteran and brings a lot to the team. But realistically, you want to make the playoffs, win a Super Bowl. We have to get the guy who can do that.”
I have a lot of respect for Joe, but I respectfully disagree with some of that he said.
First of all, I have no issue with him saying, “I would like to see Hackenberg.” I think a lot of people feel that way. I’m not one of them, but I respect that point of view.
As far as “we need someone for the future,” that is true, but not playing Hackenberg at the beginning of the season and having “someone for the future” aren’t necessarily connected.
Hackenberg is signed for four years. He’s only 22-years-old.
Recently on NFL Network, Charlie Casserly, Mike Maccagnan’s mentor, was talking about the Jets’ QB situation. Whenever this dude talks about the Jets, I listen and listen again. He talks to Maccagnan all the time. I’m not saying Casserly is leaking valuable info on the air, but if you listen closely, you can get a better feel about what the GM is thinking than from anybody else outside the building.
But in a recent analysis about the Jets’ quarterback situation, Casserly, in a long answer, said at one point – “It was best year for him to sit last year and learn the system and develop.”
Here is the sticking point with that. Yes, he got to sit last year and learn the system and develop, but the Jets aren’t using that system anymore. So learning the system is a moot point here.
And it’s really bad for a young quarterback to have a new playbook thrown at him going from Year One to Year Two. They have so much swimming around in their young heads with footwork, throwing mechanics, reading NFL defenses, and now they have to learn a whole new system, all new terminology, and NFL playbooks are voluminous.
By the way, you saw how getting a new playbook from Year One to Year Two at Penn State messed up Hackenberg. So why repeat history?
So why does he have to play at the beginning of this season?
He doesn’t. Ignore the white noise. Ignore the click-bait crowd that is going stir up this situation on a daily basis. Do what is right. Play Hackenberg when he’s ready. Don’t make the 2017 season into a test lab.
“You want to make the playoffs, win a Super Bowl. We have to get the guy who can do that.” – Namath said about Hackenberg.
Considering Hackenberg had significant accuracy issues at Penn State, and last summer with the Jets, until he improves on that, he’s not a guy who is going to take the Jets to the playoff or Super Bowl in the near future. That needs to be fixed.
Reading the tea leaves, I think the Jets plan this year is similar to last year.
Unless Hackenberg takes a quantum leap in his development and looks great this summer, looks like he’s ready to roll, the Jets will start Josh McCown until they look like they can’t contend for the playoffs, and then go to Hackenberg.
So let’s say they are 3-7, it could be Hackenberg time.
This way, he gets extra time to get the system down, extra time to be developed by Jeremy Bates and John Morton.
And isn’t throw to the wolves in Week One.
May 11, 2017
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