Blake Bortles, Jacksonville Jaguars
Blake Bortles was not very good as a rookie. It’s that simple.
He threw 11 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. His QB Rating ended at 69.5 as he completed just 58.9 percent of his passes.
And honestly, there isn’t a lot to look at statistically with Bortles and determine, “That guy’s got it”.
Maybe the fact he rushed for 419 yards on 56 attempts in 2014—a 7.5 yards per carry average? That number puts him in the same company as Russell Wilson who also averaged well over seven yards per rush in 2014.
So why does he come in as the fifth quarterback to become “elite”? Well, in truth, finding even five such players was a next to impossible task. One has to scroll pretty far down this chart to find a player not already considered “elite”. Perhaps one could say Joe Flacco or Colin Kapernick would be next.
This writer, though, is of the opinion that overall Flacco already belongs in that category, or at least the upper echelon. If he isn’t already in that category, he never will be. In some ways, a similar argument could be used for Kaepernick, though his future play and classification presents far more variables.
But also, Bortles, despite his rookie season struggles, actually still projects as a future star and franchise quarterback if the Jaguars can only create an offense which could block somewhat effectively—they gave up an atrocious 71 sacks last year.