Regardless of what happens with Sam Bradford, many predict that the Eagles are still going to draft a Quarterback at some stage during the NFL Draft. Whether it’s to become a starter or to simply grow under the very Quarterback friendly coaching stable until he’s ready, it makes sense for the Eagles to build for the future. But there’s one Quarterback who they should absolutely avoid drafting.
That man is Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg. He may not be regarded as one of the top 5 Quarterbacks in his class, but that makes it even more enticing for the Eagles to pick him up late and let him grow in the wings…but they should avoid doing so at all costs.
In Hackenberg’s three years at Penn State, he never had an accuracy percentage of over 60%.
2013- 58.9%
2014- 55.8%
2015- 53.5%
Not only that, but the stat has actually decreased each season he’s played! To show why this is so important let’s look at some accuracy ratings of some NFL Quarterbacks in their last full college season.
Sam Bradford- 67.9%
Russell Wilson- 72.8%
Derek Carr- 68.9%
Blake Bortles- 67.8%
Marcus Mariota- 68.3%
Jameis Winston-65.3%
Cam Newton- 66.1%
Andy Dalton- 66.1%
The Eagles struggled massively last year, having the most drops of any team in the NFL. If a Quarterback cannot complete 60% of his passes at the College level in at least one season then how is he expected to walk into the NFL?
The first response people tend to have to this is that Penn State had a bad Offensive Line. Well, so did the Philadelphia Eagles..but Bradford was still able to complete 65% of his passes despite coming off of two ACL’s and not playing an NFL Game snap for over a year.
Mel Kiper of ESPN said the following
“…..But once [receiver] Allen Robinson left [after the 2013 season], and the offensive line struggled and there was no Bill O’Brien, his numbers declined. You saw the interceptions, you saw the fumbles, you saw how pressure and harassment by a defensive front seven really bothered him. And I saw him sulking a little bit at times going off to the sidelines, which I didn’t like to see in terms of the body language.”
Accuracy is everything in the NFL. Cornerbacks are physically having to become ballhawks due to the changing nature of what they can and can’t do to a receiver.If there’s one team who needs a comfortable pocket passer who can deliver with accuracy and consistency it’s the Eagles..now they already arguably have one but if they plan on building through the draft then Hackenberg is absolutely not the way to go.
