Rookie SWOT: Christian Hackenberg

Mike Valverde Posted On June 8, 2016

Editor’s Note: As our coverage of the 2016 NFL Draft and its impact on fantasy football continues, we bring you our 2016 Rookie SWOT series. These articles will feature video highlights, combine reviews, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, short-term expectations, long-term expectations and rookie draft advice for over 30 of the best dynasty league prospects from this year’s draft. We’ll follow that up with team-by-team draft reviews because, you know, that’s kind of what we live for.

Make sure you’re ready for your dynasty league rookie draft by staying up on all these articles, checking out our rookie draft guide, rookie rankings, rookie draft cheat sheet and mock draft rooms. There are simply no better resources out there for dynasty fantasy football enthusiasts.

Name: Christian Hackenberg
Age: February 14, 1995 (23 years old)
Position: Quarterback
NFL Team: New York Jets
College Team: Penn State
NFL Draft Pick: Round Two, No. 51 overall

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Video Highlights:

https://youtu.be/F3ud6q6Ymh4

Combine Review

Height: 6’4”
Weight: 223
Hands: 9”
Arm Length: 32”
40-Yard Dash: 4.78

Broad Jump: 1.68

3 Cone Drill:
Vertical: 31”

Strengths

Body: When you think of a prototype passer you don’t have to go much farther than Christian Hackenberg. His height and weight are ideal. He knows how to take a pounding and will stay in the pocket to make the play happen. Hackenberg knows how to move his upper and lower body in unison when he releases the ball.
Passing: Hackenberg has a cannon for an arm. It could be the strongest of all rookie quarterbacks and he can hit areas that most quarterbacks will struggle to complete. He drives the ball with his hips, and knows how to float it to receivers with a nice touch. He understands pro-style passing techniques and grasps the timing on three, five, and seven step drops. Hackenberg has a smooth release and a nice touch.
Vision: Hackenberg understands and can read blitz techniques. He resists being baited by defensive traps, and decreased his interception total from 15 in 2014 to six in 2015. He goes through his progressions and has knowledge of upper-level route trees.
Health: He has been flung around like a rag doll at Penn State, but never missed a start. In just two seasons, he was sacked 82 times. Last season he was sacked 38 times and in 2014 he hit the dirt 44 times. He did leave early in his final game as a Nittany Lion with a shoulder sprain.
Runner: Think Andrew Luck as he is sneaky fast. Hackenberg’s forty time (4.78) was top-notch for a quarterback. He won’t be the type that can take off and run at any time, but has the capability to get the first down with his feet if needed.

Weaknesses

Pocket presence: He has the tendency to move up the pocket when it’s not necessary, and his internal clock needs a serious replacement. He holds on to the ball too long and takes the sack. He will also pull the hatch and give up by sacking himself when he feels pressured enough. He has Blaine Gabbert moments, which won’t fly in the NFL. He will also struggle when getting pressured, as reported by NFL.com Hackenberg completed just 44.2 percent against five rushers and 41.9 percent against six.
Accuracy: Hackenberg can make all the throws, but it does no good if he can’t make it connect with the receivers on the team. He saw his completion drop to 53.5 percent as a junior. Sometimes he will let his brain interrupt his passing techniques which lead to throws being inaccurate. I can understand the percentage decrease on deep passes, but his short range can get ugly as well. He will look great one moment then throw a pass bested by a fifth grader the next.

As Jeff Haverlack described in his quarterback breakdown Hackenberg shows his talents that made Bill O’Brien take notice inside of 10 yards. Outside of this area is where it gets messy.

Mental strength: He can be immature at times as he has clashed with head coach James Franklin and will falter when it comes to taking responsibility for his bad performances. His ego could work against him as he has shown flashes of being stubborn when disagreeing with Franklin. With the mixture of accuracy issues, being sacked more than a Kardashian and his internal clock being defunct it may result in him being mentally fried.

Opportunities

Like his accuracy Christian Hackenberg has a 50/50 chance of being the starting quarterback if Ryan Fitzpatrick does not sign. The only two standing in his way are Geno Smith and Bryce Petty.

Threats

The potential signing of Fitzpatrick and camp competition between him, Smith, and Petty.

Short-Term Expectations

Even if the Jets part ways with Fitzpatrick, it’s not clear that he can beat out Smith or Petty. I would recommend staying away for now, but readdress the situation closer to the regular season.

Long-Term Expectations

Hackenberg’s long-term expectations are much greater than the short-term, but even then I can’t trust Hackenberg to make all the changes necessary. BUT, if he can, he could be a top-tier starting quarterback.

Rookie Draft Advice

Christian Hackenberg came to Penn State as a blue-chip, five-star recruit under Bill O’Brien and after his freshman season looked as though he was destined for greatness. Once O’Brien left and Franklin took over it all changed for him in a negative way. Most of his issues can be fixed, the biggest worry is his internal clock. He has all the talent, but must go through a drastic rebuild process.

When looking to draft Hackenberg, I would ask the question are you a film guy/gal or a metric guy/gal. Hackenberg clearly looks better on tape as he shows all his positives, but looking at his stats would make one scratch their head in wonderment as he was taken in the second-round of the NFL draft. For dynasty purposes I could only recommend him to a risk adverse owner in the later rounds of your draft. Other than that he could be a nice injury replacement off the waiver wire.

Looking at Hackenberg’s ADP you will find that he is the 47^th player off the board and the fifth quarterback chosen in rookie-only drafts. In a typical draft, his ADP is around the 240 mark which makes him viable for drafting at the end of most leagues.

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Mike Valverde

Writer at Dynasty League Football

I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice to go with my master degree in Business Administration. In between these programs, I graduated the from the police academy. Yet, I decided to write for a career. You can catch me at the movies, playing video games, reading or writing out cryptograms, basically anything that requires me sitting on my arse. And it's a surprise to many why I like fantasy football so much.