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New York Jets: Reassessing Mike Maccagnan’s quarterback picks

By Michael Pallas

FLORHAM PARK, NJ - JANUARY 21: New York Jets General Manager Mike Maccagnan addresses the media during a press conference on January 21, 2015 in Florham Park, New Jersey. Maccagnan and Head Coach Todd Bowles were both introduced for the first time. (Photo by Rich Schultz /Getty Images)
FLORHAM PARK, NJ - JANUARY 21: New York Jets General Manager Mike Maccagnan addresses the media during a press conference on January 21, 2015 in Florham Park, New Jersey. Maccagnan and Head Coach Todd Bowles were both introduced for the first time. (Photo by Rich Schultz /Getty Images) /
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Most fans are skeptical about New York Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan’s ability to assess quarterbacks, but you shouldn’t be.

The 2018 NFL Draft is coming, and the New York Jets are highly likely (probably around 95 percent) to draft a quarterback after moving up to No. 3 overall. Some fans are squeamish about Maccagnan taking a quarterback, because he “whiffed” on Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg.

Here’s a real question to ask: Were they abject failures on the part of Maccagnan and complete whiffs, or just shots in the dark that just didn’t pan out?

The latter of those is probably the most accurate. It’s not like other drafts where the Jets passed on guys like Dan Marino when they’re available. The good quarterbacks just weren’t available for the Jets to take with Maccagnan steering the ship.

He was put in a tough situation. Woody Johnson’s delusion cause him to build a win-now team, when he should’ve been stripping down the team and starting over in 2015. The Jets have done well with their first round picks in 2015-17, selecting Leonard Williams, Darron Lee, and Jamal Adams.

When it comes to the selections of Hackenberg and Petty, though, they were more like throwing things against the wall and hoping they’d stick. In 2016, only one quarterback was selected before Hackenberg, and Paxton Lynch is a below average starting quarterback in the NFL.

Of the quarterbacks selected after Hackenberg, only one has proven to be a viable NFL starting quarterback, Dak Prescott. In 2015, only two quarterbacks were selected before Petty, and the ones that were selected after him are either backups or not in the NFL anymore.

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Devin Smith, Lorenzo Mauldin, Lee, and Williams are all still on the Jets, and can be contributors to the 2018 season. So, in essence, Maccagnan played the cards he was dealt, and did the best he could with them.

2018 is his true test. There are supposedly four guys who can play in this league, and he’s picking third. The first two times weren’t the true test. This one is.

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