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The Redskins will host former Penn State QB Christian Hackenberg for a pre-draft visit today. Hackenberg finished his collegiate career with 693 completions on 1235 attempts for 8457 yards, 48 TDs and 31 INTs. He had a 56.1% completion % and averaged 6.8 yards per attempt. Hackenberg's started to decline in his 2nd year following a coaching change, and had almost twice the amount of sacks in his next two years. Hackenberg caught a lot of flack after reports from the Combine interviews which had him blaming current PSU Head Coach James Franklin for his decline after his first season with current Houston Texans HC Bill O'Brien.
2. Never blame the coach. Per two personnel sources on two separate teams who have shown interest in drafting Penn State's Christian Hackenberg, the quarterback has said all the wrong things in interviews when asked to explain his declining sophomore and junior numbers (a combined 28 touchdowns and 21 interceptions). Hackenberg has shifted blame to coach James Franklin, who took over in 2014 when coach Bill O'Brien departed for the Texans. Said one evaluator: "Despite the fact that it's probably true, you don't want to hear a kid say that."
The Redskins currently have two quarterbacks under contract for 2016. Kirk Cousins is likely to play out this season under the franchise tag, and Colt McCoy signed a new 3 year deal to be Cousins backup. The Redskins will likely add a QB, either in the draft or by signing an undrafted free agent. Hackenberg's draft stock has been falling for a while, but will it get low enough for Scot McCloughan to see the value in drafting him. Is this another smoke screen visit? McCloughan has stated his desire to get up to 12 picks in this year's draft, and that opens a lot of possibilities for a team that still has long-term question marks at the QB position.
#PSU QB Christian Hackenberg, who had what sounded like a good visit with the #Jets yesterday, has a predraft visit with the #Redskins today
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 19, 2016
PSU QB Christian Hackenberg will visit the Redskins today (@RapSheet 1st reported). The Redskins met with him at the combine as well.
— John Keim (@john_keim) April 19, 2016