The Jacksonville Jaguars

[Wacca Pilatka]

Despite the regime changes, the Jags still don't seem to understand the concept of trading down. Would have loved another 2nd rounder with the kind of talent still out there.

I was disappointed at first when we didn't trade back, especially with the bounty Cleveland got from Buffalo.  But if there was no guarantee Bortles would've been available at 9, 10, or wherever it was Buffalo picked, and if he was clearly Caldwell's guy, then I certainly understand not doing it.  Sounds like Cleveland, Oakland, or Minnesota might have grabbed him had we traded back.  That may explain why Cleveland pulled the trigger on the Buffalo trade immediately after we picked Bortles too.

[duvaldude08]

P.S. I think the Jags picked up a lot of new fans in Orlando tonight.

It kinda worked out well. The Jags have been chasing their tail trying to figure out how to tap into the Orlando market. The Bucs are Orlandos market, but no team DOMINATES the Orlando Market. I guess we don't have to play any games down there after all 

We picked up a lot of casual fans from Orlando last night, but UCF doesn't exactly have a large die hard fan base. They can't even sell out their tiny 40,000 seat stadium, despite having 60,000 students and being in the center of a large population base. There are still more UF and FSU fans down there, not to mention lots of the transplants there are Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, etc fans.

Bortles is a hometown kid and there will be a lot of people rooting for him, but I don't think this will lead to some scenario where Orlando becomes a Jags town. Especially since the two cities are somewhat rivals and each city's residents doesn't really respect the other city.

I was speaking in general.

[duvaldude08]

Despite the regime changes, the Jags still don't seem to understand the concept of trading down. Would have loved another 2nd rounder with the kind of talent still out there.

I was disappointed at first when we didn't trade back, especially with the bounty Cleveland got from Buffalo.  But if there was no guarantee Bortles would've been available at 9, 10, or wherever it was Buffalo picked, and if he was clearly Caldwell's guy, then I certainly understand not doing it.  Sounds like Cleveland, Oakland, or Minnesota might have grabbed him had we traded back.  That may explain why Cleveland pulled the trigger on the Buffalo trade immediately after we picked Bortles too.

I completely agree. The thing is, we are in the "war rooms" Or on the phones to know what was really happening. There definately was a chain reaction after we selected Bortles. Thats why I havent critized Caldwell for pulling trigger. Only he knows why he didnt trade down.

[BridgeTroll]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/05/09/jaguars-have-loved-bortles-since-last-year-but-kept-it-quiet/

Jaguars have loved Bortles since last year, but kept it quiet

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 9, 2014, 9:37 AM EDT


The Jaguars shocked everyone when they chose Central Florida quarterback Blake Bortles with the third overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft. But in Jacksonville, that was the plan all along.

Jaguars General Manager Dave Caldwell said on Mike & Mike that he fell in love with Bortles during the 2013 college football season and has thought for several months that Bortles would be the Jaguars' franchise quarterback. But Caldwell kept it quiet.

"This process started early on," Caldwell said. "The quarterback process went early on in the fall last year and he was a guy that I always felt really strongly about, but I never let my intentions known. I let the process play out, and once our coaches got a hold of all the evaluations of our personnel staff, he became the consensus No. 1, without me influencing anybody. It became very clear to us that he was the guy at the quarterback position that we were going to target."

Caldwell said he thinks Bortles will be the Jaguars' starting quarterback for a decade or more, and Caldwell views Bortles as the kind of elite prospect who doesn't come along very often.

"It was very easy," Caldwell said. "There's not a lot of 6-foot-5, 245-pound pro-style quarterbacks with the athleticism Blake has."

Caldwell added that Chad Henne still has a shot to keep the starting job in Jacksonville, and that the Jaguars would be fine with Bortles not becoming the starter until 2015. But if Bortles, is as good as Jacksonville thinks he is, he should be able to beat out Henne.

[FSBA]

Better than the reports that Gene Smith saw Gabbert in one bowl game and made up his mind then.

[NotNow]

We definitely needed a quarterback.  I'll trust the experts as to which one.  Now the meat and potatoes over the next two days.  I really want to see some OL help.

[CityLife]

So I just watched a highlight film of Bortles. His lack of arm strength worries me a bit. I really don't see too many "wow, now that was an NFL throw" type of plays. I watched the UCF-Lville and UCF-USC games and he's got good poise, pocket presence and a good head on his shoulders, but honestly not sure that he is a franchise type QB. UCF also had very good WR's last year. They don't have any elite WR's, but have about 4 or 5 very good ones, so it was easy to find an open WR on 4/5 wide sets (which you will see in his highlights).

Bortles 2013 highlights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayD9_uCz4K0

Now watch Jameis Winston's 2013 highlights. Absolutely night and day difference in arm strength and level of difficulty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZ9KOwPx3k

[Keith-N-Jax]

As far as Winston's goes he may be in jail in a few years. I trust Caldwell's eval over most of these arm chair GMs.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

So I just watched a highlight film of Bortles. His lack of arm strength worries me a bit. I really don't see too many "wow, now that was an NFL throw" type of plays. I watched the UCF-Lville and UCF-USC games and he's got good poise, pocket presence and a good head on his shoulders, but honestly not sure that he is a franchise type QB. UCF also had very good WR's last year. They don't have any elite WR's, but have about 4 or 5 very good ones, so it was easy to find an open WR on 4/5 wide sets (which you will see in his highlights).

Bortles 2013 highlights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayD9_uCz4K0

Now watch Jameis Winston's 2013 highlights. Absolutely night and day difference in arm strength and level of difficulty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZ9KOwPx3k

City,

I won't sit here and say that I 'watch tons of tape' or even really know what to look for in a QB.  What I can do is look for the things that I've heard ad nauseum from all these 'experts'.

I watched the first minute or so of the highlights and take into account that these are exactly what they claim to be...  'highlights'. 

A lot of the passes that he threw were touch passes and placed where only his guy could catch them.  Especially along the sidelines.

When he moves in the pocket, unless it's a designed rollout, he moves up, called 'climbing the ladder'.  He can do this because he can see the field while in the pocket, isn't relying on his quickness in open space and basically does the things that we 'expect' from the typical QBs.  We'll see how that pans out when ALL of the D-Line is 6-3+ and runs a 4.7.

Watch his helmet in quite a few of those clips.  The way his head snaps back to the guy coming across the field tells me that he's made his read at the line, looking off the safeties and waiting on his guy to cross the LBs.  That's a hell of a lot better than staring the guy down, wouldn't you say?

He seemed to throw decently on the run.  Again, they were all touch passes, and he made some easy passes look difficult (especially when throwing to a wide open guy), but he puts the ball in good positions. 

What I didn't see were any of the throws that he fired into a small window.  'NFL throws' if you will.  Why worry about it?  If you can toss something high percentage over the LBs and under the safeties why try and 'fit it'?  I'm sure he was asked to make those kinds of throws during his workouts, so I'm not too concerned with the ability.

I like the fact that he was Caldwell's guy since last year.  Not sure whether I believe it or not, but I love the fact that the scouting department came to their own consensus without Caldwell's input.  I'm not worried about where he was picked.  As it's been said before, we didn't give up anything to get him (a la Gabbert), neither did we gain anything, but there's no guarantee that he would have been there after 4.  Trust your board.

Hope this doesn't jinx it, but I'm sure hoping that Henne's back is OK as we head into next year, lol.

[duvaldude08]

And theres this

NFL Draft trade rumors: Buffalo Bills never offer Jaguars a concrete deal
By Alfie Crow  @AlfieBCC on May 9 2014, 9:52a 1313 

  Elsa
Many fans have moaned about the Jaguars not taking the offer the Bills gave the Browns to trade up, but general manager Dave Caldwell says no official offer ever came.

The Buffalo Bills traded up to the No. 4 overall pick in the draft, giving the Cleveland Browns a 2015 first round pick in the process to pick wide receiver Sammy Watkins immediately after the Jacksonville Jaguars picked quarterback Blake Bortles. The move following the Jaguars pick has been criticized already by some fans, asking why the Jaguars couldn't have made the same deal.

According to Jaguars  general manager Dave Caldwell, there was never a concrete deal on the table to make.




I mentioned earlier that complaining about the Jaguars not pulling off the same trade was a waste of time, because we don't know if they were actually offered it or if Bortles would have made it to the No. 9 overall pick.

Caldwell also told 1010XL's Mike Dempsey that the Atlanta Falcons were interested in moving up to the No. 3 pick, presumably to pick Jake Matthews, but the draft fell how the Jaguars anticipated and they didn't want to miss out on their quarterback.

[Tacachale]

My first thought was "who?" My second was "Well, UCF won't shut up about this for years no matter how he plays."

I think everyone's worried about getting another Leftwich or Gabbert. But this was just one of those years without many must-get players. With Clowney taken, I guess it could have been Watkins, but even if he's the best WR in the draft there are still plenty of other receivers who would make strong impact, and none of them will be great without a solid QB. I probably would have preferred trading down to plug more holes. But that requires demand to trade picks - a rare commodity this year - and it still would have left us with our biggest hole and probably fewer descent options to fill it.

We need a QB, why not him? I really don't see what's so hot about Johnny Football except that he lost to better teams. And clearly basically no one else was all that confident in Bridgewater. I'm sure any of them would have been serviceable; I'm willing to give Caldwell the benefit of the doubt that he was the best fit on the table. He will definitely draw us a lot of interest in Orlando so long as he doesn't just flop. But even if he does struggle like our past several QBs, we should start to see improvement from the rest of the team through the rebuilding, and therefore get a better gauge on him sooner.

It also makes me more confident about the savviness of our front office. If what Caldwell's saying is true, no one saw it coming, and all that Bridgewater talk served to keep everyone off our scent (and potentially drum up interest in trading picks, which obviously didn't happen). All in all I'm willing to see where this goes.

[duvaldude08]

So I just watched a highlight film of Bortles. His lack of arm strength worries me a bit. I really don't see too many "wow, now that was an NFL throw" type of plays. I watched the UCF-Lville and UCF-USC games and he's got good poise, pocket presence and a good head on his shoulders, but honestly not sure that he is a franchise type QB. UCF also had very good WR's last year. They don't have any elite WR's, but have about 4 or 5 very good ones, so it was easy to find an open WR on 4/5 wide sets (which you will see in his highlights).

Bortles 2013 highlights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayD9_uCz4K0

Now watch Jameis Winston's 2013 highlights. Absolutely night and day difference in arm strength and level of difficulty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZ9KOwPx3k

City,

I won't sit here and say that I 'watch tons of tape' or even really know what to look for in a QB.  What I can do is look for the things that I've heard ad nauseum from all these 'experts'.

I watched the first minute or so of the highlights and take into account that these are exactly what they claim to be...  'highlights'. 

A lot of the passes that he threw were touch passes and placed where only his guy could catch them.  Especially along the sidelines.

When he moves in the pocket, unless it's a designed rollout, he moves up, called 'climbing the ladder'.  He can do this because he can see the field while in the pocket, isn't relying on his quickness in open space and basically does the things that we 'expect' from the typical QBs.  We'll see how that pans out when ALL of the D-Line is 6-3+ and runs a 4.7.

Watch his helmet in quite a few of those clips.  The way his head snaps back to the guy coming across the field tells me that he's made his read at the line, looking off the safeties and waiting on his guy to cross the LBs.  That's a hell of a lot better than staring the guy down, wouldn't you say?

He seemed to throw decently on the run.  Again, they were all touch passes, and he made some easy passes look difficult (especially when throwing to a wide open guy), but he puts the ball in good positions. 

What I didn't see were any of the throws that he fired into a small window.  'NFL throws' if you will.  Why worry about it?  If you can toss something high percentage over the LBs and under the safeties why try and 'fit it'?  I'm sure he was asked to make those kinds of throws during his workouts, so I'm not too concerned with the ability.

I like the fact that he was Caldwell's guy since last year.  Not sure whether I believe it or not, but I love the fact that the scouting department came to their own consensus without Caldwell's input.  I'm not worried about where he was picked.  As it's been said before, we didn't give up anything to get him (a la Gabbert), neither did we gain anything, but there's no guarantee that he would have been there after 4.  Trust your board.

Hope this doesn't jinx it, but I'm sure hoping that Henne's back is OK as we head into next year, lol.

I agree with you about Bortles buddy. Just from watching videos the first things that jump out me is his poise, how he goes through his reads, his ability to scramble and evade defenders immediately jump out at me. IMO he has all the natural traits an NFL QB needs. Everything else can be corrected through practice and coaching. With that being said, I dont understand the Gabbert comparisons. Gabbert never went through his progressions, stared down his receivers, sacked his self at the first sign of danger, and was a jittery mess in the pocket.

[CityLife]

So I just watched a highlight film of Bortles. His lack of arm strength worries me a bit. I really don't see too many "wow, now that was an NFL throw" type of plays. I watched the UCF-Lville and UCF-USC games and he's got good poise, pocket presence and a good head on his shoulders, but honestly not sure that he is a franchise type QB. UCF also had very good WR's last year. They don't have any elite WR's, but have about 4 or 5 very good ones, so it was easy to find an open WR on 4/5 wide sets (which you will see in his highlights).

Bortles 2013 highlights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayD9_uCz4K0

Now watch Jameis Winston's 2013 highlights. Absolutely night and day difference in arm strength and level of difficulty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZ9KOwPx3k

What I didn't see were any of the throws that he fired into a small window.  'NFL throws' if you will.  Why worry about it?  If you can toss something high percentage over the LBs and under the safeties why try and 'fit it'?  I'm sure he was asked to make those kinds of throws during his workouts, so I'm not too concerned with the ability.

Good post. The NFL throw I haven't seen in any highlight reels and would like to see (please link if you see one) is the across the field out route from the short side of the field. This is the throw that you can watch Andrew Luck or Matt Ryan make and say, "now that is a stud NFL QB". Perhaps he can sling it, I just haven't seen it and have heard there are some concerns of his arm strength.

I'm also basing my skepticism based on what a family friend told me about Bortles a few weeks ago. This person is an obsessive UCF fan, fairly large booster, and gets access to a lot of practices.  Basically he told me that Bortles is a very good kid, hard worker, has the intangibles, but he views him more as a game manager in the NFL, not a Andrew Luck, Matt Ryan, Cam Newton type of franchise QB. He wanted him to go to the Jags, but not as a #3 pick. Said that would put a lot more extra pressure on him in the NFL. Says he can potentially be a very good NFL QB, but that taking him so high is a risk, not a guarantee. They also told me that other big UCF boosters and even the UCF coaching staff felt the exact same way.

Let's hope he turns out to be a stud, but anyone without an ounce of skepticism is either lying to themselves or putting blind faith into the Jags front office.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Let's hope he turns out to be a stud, but anyone without an ounce of skepticism is either lying to themselves or putting blind faith into the Jags front office.

I don't lack skepticism, lol, but I am an optimist. 

I'm basing my hopes on a couple of things staying true: 

1.)  The owner/front office are set for at least the next 3-4 years.  Creating a sense of continuity that will allow the team to develop naturally. 

2.)  Henne plays as well / better than last year to allow Bortles to sit back and learn the game behind someone without the added pressure of 'carrying' the franchise. 

And don't forget....   we still have at least 2 more picks tonight to add to the mix!  There;s still a lot of draft left.

[CityLife]

Let's hope he turns out to be a stud, but anyone without an ounce of skepticism is either lying to themselves or putting blind faith into the Jags front office.

I don't lack skepticism, lol, but I am an optimist. 

I'm basing my hopes on a couple of things staying true: 

1.)  The owner/front office are set for at least the next 3-4 years.  Creating a sense of continuity that will allow the team to develop naturally. 

2.)  Henne plays as well / better than last year to allow Bortles to sit back and learn the game behind someone without the added pressure of 'carrying' the franchise. 

And don't forget....   we still have at least 2 more picks tonight to add to the mix!  There;s still a lot of draft left.

I wasn't trying to call you out, was just a general statement...but yea, I really think Caldwell can show his worth the rest of the draft. Need a quality RB, WR, and some OL to help build around Bortles.

Fingers crossed for Marquise Lee tonight.