Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles had surgery on his right wrist on Friday, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.
Bortles was listed with the wrist issue on every injury report this seasons for the Jaguars. Despite the injury, Bortles completed a career-high 60.2 percent of his passes with 21 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He also posted the second-best numbers of his career in yards per attempt (7.0) and passer rating (84.7)
Per Schefter, the injury surfaced in December 2016. Bortles avoided having surgery after last season but it now needs to be addressed after playing 19 games this year.
The surgery could come close to guaranteeing Bortles the $19 million and change he’s scheduled to make next year in the final year of his rookie contract with the Jaguars. Jacksonville picked up the fifth-year option on his contract for last season, which was guaranteed for injury only. It becomes fully guaranteed if Bortles is on the team’s roster for the start of the league year on March 14 and would be guaranteed if Bortles is unable to pass a physical before that date.
Even if Bortles is fully healed in six weeks, the surgery allows Bortles to enter the last year of contract fully healthy and able to physically perform to his greatest potential, assuming the Jaguars keep him.