The NFL Draft is fast approaching, and the value of Christian Hackenberg remains something nobody seems to have ironed out.
This much we know at this point about Christian Hackenberg. The hype about being a potential No. 1 overall draft pick is ancient history at this stage. The top quarterback in the draft will more than likely be either Cal’s Jared Goff or North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz. How many quarterbacks are picked in the first round also remains a question nobody has a solid answer to, while debating whether or not Hackenberg is worth a pick in the first three rounds or is completely undraftable continues as well.
I have taken time in the past to outline some fair reasons to give Hackenberg a benefit of the doubt considering the state of the Penn State football program, but I also feel a number of criticisms have been more than fair as well. Many of my suspicions about Hackenberg attempting to force plays he should have avoided were confirmed by the Penn State quarterback last week in a featured story authored by Jenny Vrentas for The Monday Morning Quarterback.
“I wanted everything, and I wanted to fix things so bad, and I wanted to be better so bad that at times I took risks that I really wouldn’t take,” Hackenberg admits. “It was just a desire to get something going; to get some type of momentum moving forward. That led to a lot of issues my sophomore year, and a lot of frustration that, ultimately, I brought upon myself.”
Hackenberg admitted to having such a strong desire to win that he found himself attempting to force plays to happen that had a very small chance of working out. On the one hand, you can say at least he realizes what he was doing. On the other, you can ask why he didn’t realize that sometimes forcing a play to happen could actually hurt his team’s chances of winning more than helping. Both are fair reactions to have. At this stage, what’s been done on the field is done and nothing can change that. Hackenberg is now forced to address his not-so-glamorous highlight reel with NFL coaches and scouts and more, which means he needs to demonstrate he has learned from his mistakes and past decisions in order to convince them to give him a chance with a draft pick.
I believe Hackenberg will be drafted, although I am not so certain where. Where he would fall in the draft may be determined by how the first round goes down. For what it is worth, Optimum Scouting currently ranks Hackenberg as the fourth-best passer in the draft pool, trailing Goff, Wents and Paxton Lynch of Memphis (who is ranked No. 1). Optimum Scouting gives Hackenberg a second-round draft grade, the same grade given to Lynch, Wentz and Goff (and these three are expected to go in the first round because the NFL always has pressure to draft a QB). Peter King said today as many as four quarterbacks could be drafted in the first round, which may help Hackenberg’s chances of being drafted relatively earlier compared to later or not at all.
“Even this far out, the lines are drawn here: Goff and Wentz in the top five, Paxton Lynch in the teens, Connor Cook around 30 and then it’s anyone’s guess,” King writes. But what about Hackenberg?”
“One evaluator: “I would love to take a shot at developing Christian Hackenberg.” Another: “Hackenberg’s fractured.”
Hackenberg continues to be the Jekyll and Hyde prospect in this year’s NFL Draft. Your guess is as good as anyone else’s at this point.
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