3. Christian Hackenberg
EXPERIENCE: Junior
PROJECTED ROUND: 2nd/3rd HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6-4/223 LBS
CAREER NUMBERS: 56.1% completion; 8,457 yards passing; 48 passing TDs; 31 INTs; -242 yards rushing; 6 rushing TDs
Before we go any further, no, that is not a typo; Christian Hackenberg did score six career rushing touchdowns on -242 yards rushing. How? Well, he was sacked an absurd amount of times, and that basically sums up Hackenberg’s final two seasons at Penn State: His team did almost nothing to make his life easier.
And that’s not to say that Hackenberg wasn’t without his faults. In fact, he’s got a laundry list of them. But if Joe Montana was playing behind the line Hackenberg was playing behind, he might have seen a drop off in production, too.
Now, across the board, Cook is seen as the better prospect, but for the Broncos, I think Hackenberg makes more sense for two reasons: (1) He’s likely to be available in the second round, whereas Elway most likely would have to select Cook with his first round pick, and (2) I believe his upside is significantly higher.
A few years ago, Hackenberg was a freshman sensation; he was, in the minds of most, a lock to be a top-five pick the moment he became eligible for the NFL. Even a year ago, most analysts would have been shocked to see the big quarterback from Penn State fall out of the first round. Now, he might be lucky to sneak into the second.
For Hackenberg, it may not be so much about developing as it is fixing. Right now, he’s a broken quarterback. He’s been thrown around so often that he doesn’t know which ways up. The moment pressure hits him, he cracks. A huge part of the blame deserves to be taken by him, but a significant portion falls on the coaching staff and surrounding talent, too — Hackenberg isn’t afraid to tell you that.
Like the two guys before him, there’s plenty of risk with Hackenberg. Still, if the Broncos are looking to hit a home run without mortgaging their future to move up in the draft, this might be their guy.
