Former Jets quarterback Christian Hackenberg is trying to take his talents from the gridiron to the diamond.
Following a failed NFL career in which he never appeared in a regular season game and a stint in the AAF, Hackenberg has decided to try his hand at baseball.
The 25-year-old was seen throwing pitches and eclipsing 90 miles per hour on the radar gun earlier this week. Before giving up baseball to focus on football at Penn State, Hackenberg went 1-3 with a 7.36 ERA in his senior year at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia. He registered 33 strikeouts in 26.2 innings pitched, but struggled with his control. He walked 16 batters and hit five.
“As simple as I can put it, I just want to compete man,” Hackenberg told NBC Philadelphia. “I’ve had my trials and tribulations with the NFL and had success and had that roller coaster ride. At the end of the day, I’m sitting here at 25 and I feel like I still have a lot left in the tank.”
A second-round pick in 2016, Hackenberg’s career with the Jets never took flight. He spent all but three weeks of his two-year stint with New York on the inactive list, never playing a single meaningful down for the team that drafted him.
Hackenberg bounced from the Raiders to the Eagles to the Bengals before landing with the AAF’s Memphis Express before the league folded. He is the latest failed Jets quarterback to take up baseball, joining Tim Tebow. Tebow has spent the last four years in the minor leagues with the New York Mets organization.
