JustVisiting

Jaguars fan here. I found this post while doing my daily check for team news and figured I would weigh in. When in comes to Blake my unpopular opinion is that he's been a scapegoat for several years. He does have a poor delivery. His decision making isn't always the best. He'll force some throws because he doesn't always go through his reads. That being said some of this can be corrected. He's young, he's not a media darling like Tebow, he's athletic, and he plays with heart. Accuracy aside he has a cannon of an arm. (Note: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000400156/article/matthew-stafford-leads-list-of-top-10-strongest-arms ) He rounded out the top 10 strongest arms for QB's in '14. I believe the right coaching staff could turn his career around. People tend to ignore the state of the Jaguars franchise during Blake's rookie and subsequent seasons. There was a lot of coaching turnover. The front office was consistently hamstrung by the financial decisions of prior regimes. Blake was surrounded by rookies. The offensive line was patchwork at best. The defense was not the juggernaut it is today. Of course Blake had a monster sophomore season. He had no choice. Fundamentals are tossed out the window when you've got to do your best Favre impression to stay in games. Blake is athletic enough to play behind a line of dog food bags but no rookie should start their career that way. Ultimately he was drafted too high and started too soon. Does this mean he shouldn't have been a starter in the NFL? Not necessarily. Just not for the Jaguars at that time. I would say he's a backup at best right now but a project at worst. Blake does present at a great value but only after this current contract is up. You just can't draft a project quarterback and start him under a patchwork coaching staff plucked from the bottom of the barrel of coaching candidates. Remember that at that time the Jaguars couldn't lure quality coaches to Duvall. Hell they couldn't even attract free agents that weren't past their prime for less than double their worth. Trade wise this isn't a terrible idea. You do have the cap space and the Jaguars only need cap space. This fan would prefer to keep Bortles on as an insurance policy and draft a QB on day 2. He'll be paid too much to be a backup should the rookie take his spot but the cap casualty is also too much to not consider. I'd much rather pay a bit more and get a return on said investment than literally pay to have nothing. That's just me and it's based mostly on Blake the person and not Blake the player. He's not a cancer, his teammates support him, he plays to win, and he'll play hurt. That's my 2 cents.