Jan 21, 2018; Foxborough, MA, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles (5) against the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

During the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft, the time came for the Jacksonville Jaguars to make their selection with the 29th overall pick.

Still available for the taking were Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson and Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph. However, the Jaguars bypassed both signal callers and selected Florida defensive tackle Taken Bryan.

Instead of trying to improve their passing attack that was ranked 17th in the NFL last season, Jacksonville figured they were better off adding another pass rusher to a defense that finished with the second-most sacks last season.

The Jaguars then had another chance to add Rudolph to their roster, as the quarterback was still available when Jacksonville was on the clock in round two. But again, the Jaguars went in a different direction and drafted LSU wide receiver D.J. Chark instead.

While Bryan and Chark will likely be good additions to Jacksonville’s roster, the team had two chances to upgrade at the quarterback position and both times they decided against it.

So now, the Jaguars will attempt to get to the Super Bowl in 2018 with Blake Bortles as their starting signal caller for the fifth straight season.

Jacksonville is hoping that Bortles, who has thrown more interceptions than any other NFL quarterback since 2014, will be good enough for them to reach their goals in 2018.

His high interception total doesn’t seem to bother the Jaguars as much as it should since they even extended his contract back in February, keeping him signed through the 2020 season. That extension might have been a clue that the Jaguars were sticking with Bortles but at the same time, wasn’t going to give him a long-term deal.

(Photo by Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports) Blake Bortles

Of the 40 signal callers around the league to attempt at least 500 passes since 2014, Bortles has the fifth-lowest QB rating. Quarterbacks like Brian Hoyer, Jacoby Brissett, Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton, Ryan Tannehill and Tyrod Taylor all have a higher QB rating during this same time period than Bortles.

Prior to this year’s draft, Jacksonville said they didn’t have any glaring needs. But c’mon, even a blind person can see that the Jaguars need to upgrade at the quarterback position if they really want to make some serious moves in the near future.

Even if Jacksonville did not want to start a rookie under center next season, they could have at least drafted Bortles’ eventual replacement this year.

Instead, the Jaguars will spend another season pretending like Bortles is still their quarterback for the future as he continues to get in the way of the team accomplishing their championship goals.

About Adam Patrick

Adam has been covering the NFL for the last five years and his work has been published by a number of sports-related websites you may or may not have heard of including USA TODAY, SB Nation, and FanSided. In addition to writing for The Comeback, Adam is also the Co-Editor of The Viking Age. If you want to make him laugh, he's always in the mood for a good Manti Te'o joke.

1 thought on “So the Jaguars are really going to give Blake Bortles another shot?

  1. Yes, Bortles is a big disappointment for the reasons mentioned. Are there any Jags fans out there who don’t wish the team had selected another player with the third pick in 2014? But drafting 29th in 2018 did not allow the team to select a future franchise quarterback. Jackson and Rudolph are quite unlikely to have stellar NFL careers for very different reasons. They are both legitimately second tier, and the team was wise to select elsewhere. The Jags are in purgatory — too good to draft a QB with promise but with a “win now” roster at all other positions and a QB who is holding them back. Free agency isn’t the answer, as the Cousins and Garoppolo contracts demonstrated by soaking up so much cap space that they diminished the roster at other positions. There is no good answer here for the Jags.

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