The Jaguars could have had quarterback Blake Bortles play out this year under the terms of the fifth-year option on his rookie deal, but they signed him to a three-year contract extension in February instead.
The deal guarantees Bortles $26.5 million over the next two seasons as opposed to the $19 million he would have made under the option. In an appearance on Sirius XM NFL Radio, Bortles said that he didn’t “really care about how much money” was in the deal because he prized the security that came with a deal running beyond the 2018 season.
Bortles also suggested that he would continue to feel that way by pointing to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady‘s habit of leaving money on the table to spend on other areas of the team.
“I think definitely the way the Tom has done it is the way to try to model,” Bortles said. “Having guys and putting pieces around him was definitely something. When you take up a ton of money you kind of limit your team and who they can help you out with and put around you. I’m not naive enough to say that we don’t need a run game. We also need a good defense, we need good receivers, we need all these pieces. You can’t play as a quarterback and do it yourself so I’m more than willing to take less money than somebody else might in my position to put good guys around us.”
Many would point out that Bortles’ play to this point in his career doesn’t give him the same leverage that Brady has avoided using to command the biggest possible salary. There’s little doubt, though, that any money saved at quarterback will be a plus for the Jaguars as players like Jalen Ramsey, Myles Jack, Yannick Ngakoue and, should he persuade the team to keep him around, Dante Fowler come up for new contracts.
If Bortles plays well, he would be in line for a new contract that would allow him to prove his faith in the Brady model before too long as well.