Chad Henne is the Jaguars’ starting quarterback for the rest of the season, after Blaine Gabbert was placed on injured reserve. And Henne’s coach wants him to view the final six weeks of the season as an audition to be the starter in 2013 as well.
Jaguars coach Mike Mularkey said after announcing that Gabbert is on injured reserve that if Henne plays well for the final six weeks of the season, he’ll go into next season as the starter. Mularkey said he wants every player on his team to know that he’ll be evaluated going forward based on his performance on the field.
“Every game they play they have a chance to either keep their job or earn their job -- every player,” Mularkey said.
That makes sense: Henne is on the first year of a two-year contract, and if he keeps playing as well as he did when he relieved Gabbert on Sunday against the Texans, it would be impossible for Mularkey to claim that Gabbert is the better quarterback on the roster.
However, the whole thing could be moot because it might not be up to Mularkey to choose the Jaguars’ starting quarterback in 2013. Mularkey is 1-9 in his first season as the Jaguars’ head coach, and if he finishes the season 1-15, his first season could be his last.