From ownership down to coaches, the Jaguars have expressed a lot of faith in Blaine Gabbert after a rough rookie season.
We believe Mike Mularkey was hired in large part because he was viewed as a great coach to work with Gabbert. One of Mularkey’s first tasks: Getting unnecessary thoughts out of Gabbert’s head.
This is how Mularkey explained Gabbert’s tendency to duck in the face of the pass rush.
“I don’t want to get into the things that took place last year, but [I think] there were things in his head even before the ball was snapped,” Mularkey told Vito Stellino of the Florida Times-Union. “He knew there may be a chance the rush could get to him for a variety of reasons. I don’t want to step on any toes, but I’ve got to get that out of his head.”
(Our guess about the things in Gabbert’s head: “Watch out!!”)
The toes Mularkey refers to likely belong to offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter. The Jaguars have talked about simplifying the offense after Koetter’s approach didn’t work last year.
No matter what Mularkey does, there is a chance the rush could get to Gabbert on any snap. Jacksonville will need to see major development from Gabbert in terms of his pocket presence to move forward as an offense.