AAF: Christian Hackenberg is still bad at football
Christian Hackenberg is now the starting quarterback for the Memphis Express in the AAF, but he’s still quite awful at football.
One week following the Super Bowl, the AAF (Alliance of American Football) has taken on some quality early life. The upstart professional football league has gotten off to a popular start as many notable former pros and college players have taken the field, trying to earn another shot at the NFL. One such player is quarterback Christian Hackenberg.
Hackenberg, of course, has gone down as one of the biggest draft misses in recent memory. Despite major concerns about his NFL future coming out of Penn State, Hackenberg was taken in the second round by the New York Jets. However, he never took a meaningful snap in his multiple seasons with New York before he was cut, with reports often tricking out about his dramatically bad performances in practice.
Now he’s in the AAF trying to get a second life. On Sunday, he took the field as the starting quarterback for the Memphis Express. Given his college pedigree, the hope for him in this new league with a new start is that his fortunes would change.
Unfortunately for him, they have not, it would seem. In the first half of their matchup with the Birmingham Iron, Hackenberg went just 3-for-11 passing for just 20 yards and an interception. Not shockingly, his team was left trailing 9-0 at halftime after that line.
Let’s take a look at that pick, just for good measure:
.@aafiron defense with the pick! #MEMvsBHM pic.twitter.com/bK73dUP7kq
— The Alliance (@TheAAF) February 10, 2019
Things didn’t start out well for Hackenberg in the second half, either, as Memphis head coach Mike Singletary relied almost solely on the run, to the point that they turned the ball over on downs trying to take the ball out of the quarterback’s hands.
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Call it harsh, call it jumping the gun, but the clear verdict here seems to be that the NFL wasn’t the problem — Christian Hackenberg is the problem. The Penn State product just might not be cut out for pro football, and this stint in the AAF may only prove that further rather than offer him a second chance.