The New York Jets made the decision on Thursday to narrow down their quarterback group by parting ways with Bryce Petty. It has brought forth questions concerning why the team made the choice to go in that direction instead of moving on from Christian Hackenberg.
Beyond Hackenberg being a second-round pick in comparison to Petty, Mike Garafolo of The NFL Network revealed that the 23-year-old has spent the offseason working on completely overhauling his throwing motion with the help of quarterback coach Jeff Christensen. (h/t Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk)
Christensen had to “start from scratch on [Hackenberg’s] throwing motion,” per Garafolo. The two have spent more than 60 sessions together this offseason.
Through his first two seasons in the league, Hackenberg has yet to see the field in any regular season game, which has raised questions about how the team views him in their future plans. These were further clouded with the team both deciding to take USC's Sam Darnold with the third overall pick in this year's draft while keeping Josh McCown on a one-year deal and bringing aboard Teddy Bridgewater into the fold.
This pushed Hackenberg in a tough position of having to prove himself once again that he can be a service NFL quarterback. The hope is that he can do that by changing up his throwing motion to something more feasible and effective in helping in throw the ball better. The fact that he has gone throw many session with this new throwing style speaks to how committed he is changing that aspect of his skill set.
Only time will tell if this change in his throwing motion will help him change the trajectory of his career for a chance to not only get on the field in a regular season game but get a shot at a starting job.
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