The End Of An Error

I would be neglecting my responsibilities if I did not acknowledge this historical milestone:

Christian Hackenberg, who really is capable of breaking a huddle, was traded this afternoon from the Jets to the Raiders, somehow.

The Jets’ list of second-round busts in this decade includes Vlad Ducasse, Stephen Hill, Geno Smith, Jace Amaro, and Devin Smith. But Hackenberg is truly in a category all his own. He didn’t play a single snap during his two seasons with the Jets, even as the team twice finished 5-11 while holding a roster spot for him, and even as then-offensive coordinator John Morton once copped to completely giving up during the fourth quarter of a loss.

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During his time with the Jets, Hackenberg had the distinction of completing more passes to reporters than to teammates. The Raiders agreed to give up a conditional seventh-round pick in return. No word if that pick is dependent upon the league adding an eighth round.

Unless the condition involves his ability to fog up a mirror held to his mouth, I’m guessing the Jets Raiders are keeping the seventh rounder. Hackenberg is the third QB selected in the first two rounds in the common draft era not to play a game in his first two years, and one of the other two was because Jim Kelly went to the USFL. Heckuva job! Although thanks in large measure to the strange decision-making of the other New Jersey-based franchise the Jets ended up with a real QB prospect anyway.

Still, I’m very confident that the Bills will be able to teach Josh Allen how to throw accurately at the NFL level. Investing significant draft capital in unproductive and inaccurate but white, tall, white, strong-armed, and white QBs has a stellar track record.