5. Jacksonville Jaguars: Blake Bortles
I don’t want to lay this on you all at once, but I have no other choice:
Chad Henne is not good.
The fact head coach Gus Bradley is set on Henne as the starter is baffling to me. Obviously, Bortles can play, as he’s shown this preseason. If there’s any scenario in which a team should start their rookie quarterback, it’s Jacksonville! What do they have to play for other than the future?
The Jaguars haven’t been relevant since Byron Leftwich and David Garrard were the quarterbacks. I’m guessing there’s some fans under the age 20 who don’t even remember that period in Jags’ history.
Regardless of how good Henne is this season, Bortles is and will be the future of Jacksonville’s franchise. He will play at some point this season.
As a backup right now, Bortles has it easy. He’s like a standup comedian on tour, traveling with a terrible opening act. Instead of getting the crowd going for Bortles, Henne is going to bomb so hard that it makes the fans think “Is this ever going to end?!” and beg for Bortles. That’s a win-win for the Jags and Bortles. The Jaguars will have some fans that actually have some hope and start to care about the games, and Bortles will have no pressure when he finally does take the field.