Christian Hackenberg entered the NFL with great expectations. But in two years with the New York Jets, he didn’t play a single snap in the regular season

Sometimes in the NFL you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Christian Hackenberg was probably in the worst possible place for him.

In New York. With the Jets.

They had drafted him in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft. But that was just the start of a real disaster. Hackenberg would not play a single snap in the regular season in two years.

“New York was probably the last place I should have gone as far as the market, the expectations and the way it was,” Hackenberg said on the Russ Tucker Podcast. “My rookie year, we had four quarterbacks, so there wasn’t a lot of opportunity for me to develop and grow. There was no plan, the organization was up and down. “

New York Jets: Four quarterbacks on the roster

In addition to Hackenberg, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bryce Petty and Geno Smith were also on the roster in 2016, when Todd Bowles was the head coach. In 2017 it was Petty and Josh McCown. The highest of feelings for Hackenberg: being in the active squad on a match day, which happened rarely enough.

His big problem: as a rookie, he was anything but ready for the NFL, the expectations of him, but also the expectations he had of himself, were high. But the opportunities to develop were few and far between. Too little.

Whether he would have made it elsewhere is a discussion that is as pointless as it is hypothetical. The fact is: After two seasons, it was over. Before the 2018 season, he tried out for the Oakland Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals, but never got a foot on the ground.

“The timing and the place” weren’t right, he said, but also admitted his own mistakes. “I was young, I needed a lot of help and I needed a lot of guidance and direction and I never looked for it,” Hackenberg said. “That was my shortcoming, I didn’t do all those things until it was finally too late. “