Jaguars coach Doug Marrone says there’s now a competition at quarterback between incumbent starter Blake Bortles and veteran backup Chad Henne. But if the two are close enough to be in competition at all, it’s hard to imagine how the Jaguars could justify giving the job to Bortles.
That’s because Bortles’ contract contains a $19 million salary in 2018, which is guaranteed if Bortles suffers an injury that prevents him from passing a physical next year. In other words, every play the Jaguars put Bortles on the field, they’re risking putting themselves on the hook for a $19 million salary next year.
That would be a risk worth taking if Bortles had done anything to justify his selection as the third overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft. But if Bortles had done anything to justify his lofty draft status, he wouldn’t be competing with Henne heading into his fourth season.
Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times Union doesn’t even believe that Marrone means it when he says it’s an open competition. In O’Halloran’s view, the competition is over and Henne has won. O’Halloran even sees the Jaguars cutting Bortles before the season so they don’t have to risk him getting hurt this year and putting them on the hook for his $19 million salary next year.
Marrone declared himself “not happy with the performance” of either quarterback after Thursday night’s preseason game, and O’Halloran believes that’s more an indication that Marrone wishes Henne had played better than anything else: If the Jaguars are moving on from Bortles, then all they really want to see from the quarterbacks is for Henne to look competent. Henne went just 6-for-10 for 44 yards, and the Jaguars didn’t score their first points until third-stringer Brandon Allen was in the game.
The Jaguars may already regret picking up Bortles’ fifth-year option. If that’s the case, the only way out of it is to cut him before he gets hurt.
