The Jaguars put an early end to speculation about a quarterback change in 2018 by signing Blake Bortles to a three-year extension just as the offseason was getting underway.
When the extension was announced, Jaguars executive vice president Tom Coughlin said that the team expected to see improvement from Bortles this season and coach Doug Marrone said the same during an appearance on NFL Network Tuesday. Marrone also provided his explanation for believing Bortles will continue to get better.
Marrone pointed to the coaching change before the 2017 season and the signs that Bortles developed a fuller grasp of offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett’s offensive system as the year played out as reason to think better things are ahead.
“This was the first time we could implement a full installation, a full season of what we wanted to do and wanted to get done from an offensive standpoint,” Marrone said. “And we really saw Blake make really great strides from the Cincinnati game on. I think that was important. And he showed us he can do a lot of good things with the football and showed he was able to improve.”
The Cincinnati game that Marrone references came in Week Nine after the Jaguars had a bye. He had some shaky outings after that point, but was more consistent during the 6-3 close to the year than he was while the Jags were going 4-3 to open it and continued the solid play in the postseason.
It’s a better floor than the one Bortles was on heading into last season and it’s one that has changed the overall outlook in Jacksonville a tremendous amount.