NFL Flameout Christian Hackenberg Throws Gas and Wants to Play Pro Baseball

Tim Tebow might have inadvertently started a new movement among quarterbacks that flame out in the NFL, as another high draft pick that proved he couldn't cut it in the pros is trying his luck on the diamond.

Former Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg, who played with the New York Jets for two seasons, is trying to make it in the MLB as a pitcher. He can allegedly top 90 miles per hour on the mound despite not having played baseball since high school.

Hackenberg was a .370 hitter in high school, but his success on the mound was few and far between given his 7.36 ERA.

The 6-4 Hackenberg joined Bill O'Brien and Penn State as the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the country. After a promising freshman season, he immediately regressed every following season, throwing more interceptions than touchdowns as a sophomore and completing just 53 percent of his passes as a junior.

Despite years of evidence proving he couldn't play, the New York Jets used a second-round pick on him in the 2016 Draft. He was only active for four games as a pro, and never played a down in two NFL seasons. His tenure with the Jets was mostly full of apocryphal tales of how bad he was in practice. It's probably a good thing he didn't play a down in the pros, because it would have been embarrassing.

The last we saw of him was in the AAF with the Memphis Express, where he threw three picks and no touchdowns and was benched after three starts.

His football career might be dead and buried, but Hackenberg is hoping his strong arm helps him make the transition into flame-throwing pitcher.