Christian Hackenberg is taking some reps with the Jets’ first offense, and he may end up their starter.
But they’re not ready to declare that yet, and they’re not even sure where Hackenberg is in the process.
Via Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, Jets offensive coordinator John Morton seemed to be tempering the enthusiasm surrounding the second-year quarterback, who didn’t throw a pass last year.
“Basically, he’s a rookie,” Morton said.
Hackenberg was efficient if not outstanding last week, completing 18-of-25 for 127 yards with no interceptions. But it was a very spare game-plan, so they’re not ready to say he’s ready to start in a regular season game.
“I think that’s too early to tell,” Morton said. “We’re in training camp mode. We got to play a couple more preseason games. Then we’ll have a better feel to see where we’re at. Because it’s a whole different story once you get in a game and evaluate guys. That’s the real evaluation. . . .
“We’re still in evaluation mode. We’re still in training camp mode. We’re just asking him, ‘Ok, this is the situation. Let’s make sure we do this. So that happened last time. Let’s not do that.’ That’s with everybody. So, there’s no timetable here. That’s what’s training camp’s for. We’ve only had one preseason game. We’ll see what happens the next few weeks.”
If that sounds like faint praise, there’s probably a reason for that.
Veteran Josh McCown has been the presumed leader in the competition for the starting job, in what many have presumed will be a lost season. So while the easy thing to do would be to look at last year’s second-round pick, the Jets apparently aren’t ready to embark on that yet, or to admit they are.