Blake Bortles statistically best rookie QB after one start in NFL history
By Mike Marteny
The hype machine for Blake Bortles really kicked into high gear last year when he led Central Florida to a win over the heavily favored Baylor Bears in the Fiesta Bowl.
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Since then, he has gone from a projected early second-round pick to No. 3 overall. He has gone from year one being a redshirt season with the Jacksonville Jaguars to starting the fourth game of the season.
And that start ended up making him the best rookie quarterback in NFL history. Statistically speaking, of course.
Bortles completed 29 of 37 passes in the Week 4 loss to the San Diego Chargers, putting his completion percentage at 78.4%. That is the best of any quarterback with 30 or more pass attempts in his first NFL start.
Of course, you can’t measure success by completion percentage alone. Bortles averaged only 6.8 yards per attempt, meaning that a large number of his passes were checkdowns or designed short routes. And you can’t discount the fact that his team still lost, and lost badly.
Still, this is a welcome sign for a franchise that has struggled at the quarterback position since David Garrard was released before the start of the 2011 season. Slapping him with a franchise savior tag is dangerous, and that looks to be what the Jaguars were trying to avoid this year.
That said, you have to put bodies in the seats. No one wanted to pay to watch Chad Henne lead the offense like a blind mouse looking for cheese. Something had to be done.
That something was starting the third overall pick. It has worked out well so far, and Bortles seems poised to take on any pressure that may come. Granted, the expectations of Jacksonville fans is quite low right now.
That can only help as Bortles tries to help the Jaguars become winners again.
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