Penn State’s Hackenberg could be one of NFL draft’s wild cards
Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg could be a target of the Steelers in next week’s NFL Draft.
Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg threw 28 touchdown passes and 21 interceptions over his final two years with the Nittany Lions.
PITTSBURGH – With Ben Roethlisberger signed through the 2019 season, the Steelers don’t have a need for an starter-quality prospect at the quarterback position.
But with only fourth-year player Landry Jones on the roster to back up their star quarterback, the Steelers might be in the market for a long-term prospect to groom as a possible replacement for the 34-year-old Roethlisberger.
The 2016 NFL draft class isn’t a star-studded group, though California’s Jared Goff, North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz and Paxton Lynch of Memphis are all expected to hear their names called in the opening round of the draft, which begins April 28. Those three will hardly be the only quarterbacks selected in the seven-round, three-day draft, as there are some interesting mid-level prospects who could turn into the next developmental gem.
Pittsburgh has seven selections in the draft, including the 25th pick in the first round, and could take a quarterback from this year’s crop of prospects.
Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg hopes to be among those selected.
A three-year starter for the Nittany Lions, Hackenberg arrived at State College with plenty of hoopla as he was ranked by some scouting services as the top high school quarterback in the nation.
Hackenberg had a solid first season under then-head coach Bill O’Brien, throwing for 2,955 yards and 20 touchdowns while completing nearly 59 percent of his passes.
But O’Brien left to become head coach of the Houston Texans after that season and Hackenberg appeared to regress under new head coach James Franklin.
“I played in a pro system my freshman year. Understood it really well and picked it up quickly and was able to roll with it,” said Hackenberg.
That wasn’t always the case in Franklin’s system as Hackenberg’s completion percentage dipped from just under 56 percent as a sophomore to 53.5 last fall. He also threw 28 TD passes and 21 interceptions over his final two years.
“I was able to work through adversity,” Hackenberg said. “I think adversithy really shapes who you are. Success is easy to roll with. But how you respond to adversity is really huge.”
That could be a problem for Hackenberg. Some teams have reportedly been turned off by the Nittany Lions’ all-time leading passer in one-on-one interviews because he has placed the blame for his struggles solely on Franklin and his coaching staff, taking no blame for his decision-making, which was criticized heavily the last two seasons. And his workout at the NFL Scouting Combine at Indianapolis in February was less than stellar, as Hackenberg’s mechanics were off, causing the ball to sail high.
But it’s hard to ignore Hackenberg’s physical build (6-4, 223 pounds) and skillset, and not at least be intrigued by the possibility of what he might happen with the right quarterback coach.
Many of the same things could be said about another Big Ten quarterback, Cardelle Jones of Ohio State.
While he doesn’t have the starting experience of Hackenberg, Jones possess many of the skills and has ideal size (6-5, 253) for an NFL quarterback. Jones was a part-time starter at Ohio State, appearing in only 23 games and throwing 269 career passes.
“The wild cards for me are Christian Hackenberg from Penn State and Cardale Jones from Ohio State, both of whom have a ton of talent, are big, good-looking kids, but their tape is poor,” said NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock. “So they’re going to be wild cards because they have the upside – they have starter skills, but their tape is poor.”
If the Steelers don’t think they can develop either Hackenberg or Jones, they could take a chance with a late-round prospect such as Kevin Hogan of Stanford, Nate Sudfeld of Indiana or Jake Coker of Alabama.
“Hogan is probably the most ready intellectually of any of those quarterbacks,” Mayock said. “At Stanford … what they ask him to do, it’s probably as close to what you’re going to see in the NFL as any of them. So he’s going to come in and pick it up very quickly.”