The Jaguars did as they promised on Monday and gave quarterback Blake Bortles time with the starting offense.
They never promised to give him a lot of time with the starters, however, and Bortles didn’t spend much time working with the first team. Coach Gus Bradley said after practice that Bortles took three reps during 11-on-11 and four or five more during 7-on-7 drills, an experience that the coach feels will help the rookie adjust to the speed of NFL defenses.
“As I was sitting back there I thought it was really good for him to go against the ones like that to get a feel for the speed, to get a feel for the rush,” Bradley said, via the team’s website. “Sitting back there and watching it, I just felt like that was good for him.”
Bradley indicated that Bortles would get a similar number of snaps with the first team on Tuesday and is expected to play about a quarter with the starters on Friday against the Lions. He’ll enter the game after Chad Henne, who is expected to start when the season opens although offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch told Peter King of MMQB.com that the team will be “giving Blake every chance to make the decision super-hard for us” because “nothing is set in stone.”