Could Hackenberg stop the Jets from drafting a quarterback

Despite drafting QB Christian Hackenberg in the second round of last year’s draft, the New York Jets have been linked to drafting another quarterback with the sixth overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft. Just how does Hackenberg’s last year in college compare to quarterbacks in PFF’s top 30 for 2017?

• In 2015, Christian Hackenberg ranked 39th out of 41 qualified draft-eligible quarterbacks with a 64.0% adjusted completion percentage; there are 44 qualified draft-eligible QBs this season, 43 of them had an adjusted completion percentage higher than 64 percent. Meanwhile, Deshaun Watson’s 76.1 adjusted completion percentage ranked third among this years group, while Patrick Mahomes II ranked fifth (75.4%) and Mitchell Trubisky ranked seventh (75.1%).
• Similarly, when pressure was applied, Hackenberg ranked 38th of 41 with a 49.5% adjusted completion percentage under pressure. Trubisky ranked fourth this season with a 66.7% adjusted completion percentage while under duress, Watson ranked tenth at 64.3% and Mahomes II – while not great was still significantly better than Hackenberg – finished 25th at 56.3%.
• In 2015, Hackenberg ranked 32nd with a 70.3% adjusted completion percentage from a clean pocket. This year, Mahomes II ranked second with an 82.9% while not under pressure, Watson ranked fourth at 79.1% and Trubisky ranked 13th at 77.0%.

PFF's Big Time Throw (BTT) rate measures how often a quarterback makes a highly graded throw. In 2015, Hackenberg saw 2.68 BTT percentage; in 2016, Mahomes II put up a 5.62%, Trubisky came in at 4.99% and Watson finished at 4.65%, all significantly higher than Hackenberg.