Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that there’s a real possibility the Jets will undergo a “quarterback house-cleaning” this offseason and possibly move on from Bryce Petty and/or Christian Hackenberg.
According to Mehta, there’s a real concern within the Jets about the rate of Hackenberg’s development and that it isn’t fast enough. Although, Mehta does say that there are some supporters in New York who are holding out hope for Hackenberg’s development.
Mehta says that finding a new starting quarterback will be the Jets’ No. 1 priority this offseason and the belief is that they will make a run at signing a free agent or target a trade option. Mehta adds that if this doesn’t work out, the Jets will clearly take a quarterback in the first round.
New York is expected to have three new quarterbacks on the roster next year but sources have said that there’s at least some wiggle room for Hackenberg’s immediate future with the team.
Veteran QB Josh McCown is in line to be a free agent, but depending on what happens in free agency, it could make sense for the Jets to re-sign him, especially if they end up looking to the draft for another quarterback.
Petty, 26, is a former fourth-round pick of the Jets back in 2015. He’s currently in the third year of his four-year, $2,833,696 contract and is set to make a base salary of $705,000 for the 2018 season.
In 2017, Petty appeared in four games and threw for 544 yards while completing 49.1 percent of his passes to go along with one touchdown and three interceptions.
Hackenberg, 22, is a former second-round pick of the Jets back in 2016. He’s entering the third year of his four-year, $4.7 million contract and stands to make base salaries of $873,664 and $1.08 million over the final two years of the agreement.
During his three-year college career at Penn State, Hackenberg threw for 8,457 yards while completing 56.1 percent of his passes to go along with 48 touchdowns and 31 interceptions.
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I don’t know what the problem is with Hackenberg, as a pro. When he was at Penn State, he was the program. Most of the games they won, were because of him, despite the fact that he played behind a really terrible offensive line. He had very little in the way of protection. Plus, he came out of college a year early.
Christian Hackenberg got sacked too many times in college. Only one of his college years (I believe it was his first), was a good season. The Jets were too caught up in his height and weight, because his skills were not up to par. I hope they don’t make the same mistake this year, if Baker Mayfield is available, they should take him. I’ve watched games of Josh Allen from Wyoming, and I wasn’t thrilled. The Jets love the fact that he is 6’5″ tall, I could care less about his height, get someone who can find an open receiver, and get the ball to him. We should have taken an offensive lineman, with the pick that was used on Hackenberg.