Although all of the attention surrounded the professional debut of Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Johnny Manziel (and to a much lesser extent Houston Texans’ pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney), the rookie that starred this weekend was Jacksonville Jaguars’ quarterback Blake Bortles.
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Bortles, the third-overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft, completed seven-of-11 passes for 117 yards in the Jaguars’ 16-10 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Friday night. Bortles’ performance was so impressive, many believe he could supplant incumbent starter Chad Henne, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Hays Carylon of The Florida Times Union reports Henne will still be taking the reps with the first team.
"Bortles won’t get work with the first team this week as the Jaguars travel to face Chicago on Thursday night.“I wouldn’t count on it this week,” Bradley said.The priority is to get Henne into a rhythm before seeing what Bortles can do playing with the starters.The nearly-always positive Bradley said Bortles did a good job before going into his miscues.“There was [a mental error] he had,” Bradley said. “There was one down in the red zone, a slant where it was a high ball. He made a check at the line of scrimmage that we have to talk to him about. But, there was good poise. I thought he played with good poise and good command.”Bradley was also quick to point out that Tampa Bay only brought extra pressure on Bortles once. Still, Bortles still had to complete throws with seven defenders in coverage."
Henne was four-of-seven for 30 yards in the game. In his seven-year career, Henne has completed 1,117 of 1,876 passes for 12,439 yards with 55 touchdowns and 62 interceptions.