Getty ImagesIt’s a little later than they originally hoped, but the Jaguars will get back to work this week with the start of their offseason program.
While holding onto Doug Marrone as the permanent head coach keeps some continuity in Jacksonville, six straight losing seasons means that there’s also a need to find a better path than the one they’ve been on in recent years. One of the keys to finding that path is getting better play from quarterback Blake Bortles.
In an interview with the Florida Times-Union last week, Marrone said they hope to do that by going back to the beginning as Borles heads into his fourth NFL season.
“We have to go back and build [Bortles’] foundation from the beginning,” Marrone said. “We told him [in January] we wanted him to make sure his arm was ready to go because there will be an increase in reps, which will help him. I’ve been with Drew [Brees] in New Orleans and obviously he’s a Hall of Fame-type quarterback and that’s the way we approached it with him and with the team. You start with the foundation and you look to see how fast they can work through the foundation.”
The Jaguars haven’t said whether they will exercise their 2018 option on Bortles’ contract, which would pay him $18 million and would be guaranteed in the case of injury only. They have until May 3 to make the call, which isn’t much time to see how things are coming together. That may make it likelier that Bortles will play out the final year of his contract while the Jaguars hope they aren’t going back to square one again next year.
Orrrrr move on. Because in that division you’re always one or two games away from first place
I think Marrone is right, it’s worth starting over with this kid.
Marrone is the same guy who designed a hurry up offense around a quick decision challenged EJ Manuel.
This is the LAST GUY who understands QB development.
Good luck Jax, you’ll need it.
Bortles played for one of the all-time worst NFL head coaches before Marrone took over. He deserves another chance, I think.
I don’t think I’d pick up the option. He’s not worth $18M, not by a long shot. Instead of improving, he’s gotten much worse. Sure, he has decent numbers but remember that most of those numbers came in garbage time when the team was already blown out in the first half because Bortles was too busy giving the ball away. In all fairness though, his WRs didn’t do him any favors and Julius Thomas was a non-factor. They all need to get better if they expect that passing game to do anything. Oh, and the offensive line was terrible as well. In fact, the entire offense was pathetic.
Honestly, what has he shown to make one think he’s worth $18M? 23 TDs with 16 INTs and 6 fumbles. In addition, for the second consecutive offseason he’s talking about working on his throwing motion. That doesn’t sound like someone who was drafted #3. It sounds more like Johnny Manziel to me. Word is he’d rather go to the beach and party than put in the work that is needed to be an NFL QB. Since this is a contract year for him he better play well or he’ll be looking for a job somewhere else.
All that being said I expect they will pick up his option because it’s only guaranteed for injury. If he stinks it up again this year they can just cut him and as long as he isn’t injured they won’t owe him a cent. Then fans in Jax can just refer to him as Blaine Gabbert 2.0 and hope the team drafts a better QB next year.
He’s a horrible quarterback who has no touch on his passes. He compiled stats in garbage time to make a terrible season appear to be just bad. What has this guy ever done to deserve another chance? If anyone has any evidence that he has the potential to be very good, please spell it out.
He is garbage