The Jets did the expected on Monday when they named Josh McCown their starting quarterback for the first week of the regular season.
After making that announcement and explaining that he feels McCown gives the Jets their best chance to win right now, coach Todd Bowles fielded a lot of questions about Christian Hackenberg. The 2016 second-round pick started the last two preseason games, but didn’t do much to make the case that he should get the top job in those outings.
Bowles said he wasn’t disappointed by that and called it “a learning experience” for a player the Jets kept under wraps during his rookie season. Bowles also pushed back at the notion that it was a bad sign that Hackenberg couldn’t beat out McCown.
“I would say that he’s learning the offense and he didn’t have enough playing time yet,” Bowles said in comments distributed by the team. “We got him some significant playing time. It has nothing to do with his development. He’s 22-years old, he has time to grow and he’ll grow from it.”
Bowles said that he didn’t expect Hackenberg to develop more quickly because he was a second-round pick, although that’s not the popular opinion when it comes to players picked at that point in the draft. More is expected of players drafted in that spot even if that’s something totally out of their control and the fallout from missing is certainly greater for those making the decisions.
That would be General Manager Mike Maccagnan in this case and Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that the move was hardly met with unanimous approval inside the organization. The reaction to how it has worked out thus far is more universal even with Bowles saying on Monday that he has “faith” Hackenberg will improve while watching McCown work.
