New Orleans Saints sign former Jags QB Blake Bortles

Bortles will serve as the backup to Ian Book on Monday night.

The BOAT is getting a new job.

On Friday, Jeff Duncan of The Times-Picayune in New Orleans reported the Saints would be signing former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles in the wake of COVID-19 issues that have decimated the quarterback room. Jameis Winston is already out for the season, and now both Trevor Siemian and Taysom Hill have been placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.

Ian Book, a rookie fourth-round pick out of Notre Dame, is set to make the first start of his career, and Bortles will serve as his backup on Monday night in a matchup with the Miami Dolphins that has playoff implications for both teams.

This is the second time Bortles has found himself in this situation this year. He began the offseason with the Green Bay Packers before being released in June, but he was brought back in November when Aaron Rodgers was unavailable to be Jordan Love’s backup, but he was released after just one week.

Bortles was the third overall pick in 2014, and he played for the Jaguars until 2018. In his five seasons with the team, he totaled more than 17,000 passing yards, 103 touchdowns, and 75 interceptions. He led the team to its first AFC Championship appearance since 1999 in 2017.

Blake Bortles signs with Packers’ practice squad

The BOAT is back in Green Bay.

In the wake of the news that Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will miss at least this week’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs after testing positive for COVID-19, it seems that former first-round pick Jordan Love is set to make his first career start.

But to help shore up the depth at the position, the Packers went to a familiar face in former Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles. Green Bay offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett held the same role in Jacksonville from 2016-18, so Bortles has a lot of familiarity within his system and has joined their practice squad.

According to the Associated Press’ Mark Long, Bortles was on the links when he got the call from Green Bay.

According to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Bortles flew to Green Bay yesterday to complete his signing. He’s expected to be elevated to the active roster to serve as Love’s backup.

Bortles signed with the Packers in May but was released in July. He had previously played a stint with the Denver Broncos and two with the Los Angeles Rams.

He was originally drafted with the third overall pick by the Jags back in 2014, and the highlight of his Jacksonville career was an AFC Championship run in 2017. Bortles finished his career in Jacksonville with 17,646 yards, 103 touchdowns and 75 interceptions.

Blake Bortles to change jersey numbers in Green Bay

The No. 5 jersey is retired in Green Bay, so former Jacksonville quarterback Blake Bortles had to shake things up.

Former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback and recent Green Bay Packers signee Blake Bortles will be donning a new jersey number in 2021. The No. 5 jersey, which he wore in college and at every previous step he’s made in the NFL with Jacksonville, the Los Angeles Rams, and Denver Broncos, is retired by the Packers in honor of the late Paul Hornung, the 1961 NFL MVP.

Bortles had to change things up, and he will now be wearing No. 9 for Green Bay. The jersey was previously occupied by kicker J.J. Molson, but he swapped to No. 35 this offseason.

Bortles is one of three quarterbacks on the Packers’ roster other than Aaron Rodgers, who seems to want out. The other quarterbacks on the roster are Jordan Love, the team’s first round pick last year who didn’t appear in any games and is at least one source of Rodgers’ frustration, and Kurt Benkert, a fourth-year player who hasn’t appeared in a game.

Love is the likely candidate to back up Rodgers, assuming the latter remains on the Packers’ roster until the beginning of the season. But Bortles will compete with the second-year passer from Utah State for that job, and at the very least, he should be able to crack the 53-man roster as a third-string quarterback.

Former Jags QB Blake Bortles signs with Packers

The Packers addressed the uncertainty in the Aaron Rodgers situation by signing Blake Bortles, reuniting him with Nathaniel Hackett.

With the uncertainty surrounding the situation with quarterback Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, the Packers have decided to bring in an insurance policy in former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles. The two parties agreed to a one-year deal, which was first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Wednesday.

This move makes a lot of sense from both sides. Bortles, who Jacksonville drafted with the third overall pick in 2014, led the team to an AFC Championship Game appearance in 2017 but struggled the following year. He was released in 2019 after the team signed quarterback Nick Foles to a big deal.

Bortles backed up Jared Goff in Los Angeles in 2019, attempting two passes in three appearances, and he started the 2020 season with the Denver Broncos before being released and signed to their practice squad. The Rams brought him back by signing him off the Broncos’ practice squad in December, but he didn’t appear in a game for either team.

But in Green Bay, Bortles has a chance to reunite with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who held the same role in Jacksonville starting on an interim basis in 2016 before becoming full-time the following season. He was Bortles’ position coach in 2015 and 2016, as well.

The Packers could also use the help. It’s uncertain what will happen with Rodgers, but the 37-year-old future Hall-of-Famer has made it clear that he has no desire to return to Green Bay. That relationship seemingly began to sour when the Packers drafted a quarterback in the first round last year in Jordan Love.

Love didn’t appear in any games in 2020, and as of now, he’s the only quarterback other than Rodgers on the roster. Bortles may not be a hot commodity on the free-agent market, but he’s a relatively young quarterback with starting experience. Considering how well he knows Hackett’s system, he may be the initial starter if Rodgers is dealt or decides to hold out.

Former Jags QB Blake Bortles signs with Broncos

After months of waiting, the B.O.A.T. has found a new NFL team.

Earlier in the year when we checked, former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles was living his best life while awaiting another opportunity to re-join the NFL. Well, Tuesday marked the end of that wait as the B.O.A.T.  signed a one-year deal with the Denver Broncos.

The signing of Bortles comes after Broncos starter, Drew Lock, sustained a rotator cuff strain in Sunday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Former Florida Gators quarterback, Jeff Driskel, was then inserted into the lineup and will remain the starter until Lock can return.

Per Broncos coach Vic Fangio, Lock could be out for three to five weeks, so it made sense for the Broncos to sign a quarterback with experience like Bortles. The veteran’s addition now puts the Broncos at two quarterbacks on their active roster.

Bortles will enter his time with the Broncos with 73 career starts, a 59.3% completion rate (1,562-of-2,634), 17,649 passing yards, 103 touchdowns, and 75 interceptions. Of course, those starts all came with the Jags from 2014-18 after the team drafted him third overall in the 2014 NFL Draft.

Look: Brandon Linder, Blake Bortles reunite for a fishing session

Despite not being on the Jags’ roster anymore, Blake Bortles seems to remain close with some on the team still, including center Brandon Linder.

While Blake Bortles hasn’t suited up for the Jacksonville Jaguars for quite some time, there are several members on the current roster who are still close to him. None may be closer than center Brandon Linder, who exchange more snaps with Bortles than many can remember.

This week the two linked up once again for a little sea fishing session that resulted in some nice catches.

It’s certainly nice to see the B.O.A.T doing well and keeping tabs with his teammates who took the field with him in Jacksonville. As a free agent at the moment, Bortles looks to have had a little down time with teams being on break, and what better way to unwind than a fishing trip.

With the coronavirus being a huge concern in America and cases bound to come within the NFL, it’s a strong chance Bortles could find a team to latch on with in the regular season. Then again, with training camps set to start in late July, he may even get a call before teams return to their facilities as he brings plenty of starting experience to the table.

PFF: Blake Bortles, Gardner Minshew among QBs with highest checkdown rates

If there is an issue that many Jacksonville Jaguars fans can agree on about the team’s quarterbacks of the last decade or so, it’s the number of checkdowns that have been utilized. Veterans David Garrard and Chad Henne especially were two players …

If there is an issue that many Jacksonville Jaguars fans can agree on about the team’s quarterbacks of the last decade or so, it’s the number of checkdowns that have been utilized. Veterans David Garrard and Chad Henne especially were two players who received criticism for their lack of ability for explosive plays, but according to Pro Football Focus, it’s still something often utilized by the franchise even in recent times.

In a recent post, PFF looked at the top-10 checkdown quarterbacks of the last two years and it consisted of a former Jag in Blake Bortles and a current one in Gardner Minshew. The former first-round selection in Bortles found himself atop the list with a checkdown rate of 13.3% while Minshew came in fourth place with a rate of 10.1%.

Here is what analyst Sam Monson had to say about both signal-callers:

The NFL’s reigning checkdown king is Blake Bortles, whose stint as a starter devolved into him throwing a checkdown on 13.3% of his pass attempts by the time he lost his job. Bortles earned just a 64.7 overall PFF grade over the past two seasons, plying his trade as a backup for the Los Angeles Rams in 2019.

As for Minshew, his rookie season was impressive and certainly reset expectations for the sixth-round draft pick going forward. He could still improve his processing speed and the number of plays in which he gets himself into trouble, though. He has among the highest checkdown rates in the league but took his time before doing so — among the 10 highest checkdown rates, only Watson took longer to throw on those plays. That’s a good sign because it means that as much as Minshew has been checking down a lot, it has been very much a last resort after giving the rest of the play a chance to unfold.

One thing I’d like to add about Bortles is that he had accuracy issues and registered a career completion percentage of 59.3% with the Jags, so one could see how that would make him resort to dump-offs often.

As for Minshew, as PFF pointed out, his checkdown rate isn’t necessarily a bad thing because he used his dump-off options as a last resort often. However, they did mention that this could indicate that Minshew may have missed an open receiver before going to the checkdown option, but clearly he doesn’t alarmingly rely on his dump-offs

Maurice Jones-Drew says he wants to see Jags better their defense through 2020 draft

NFL Network analyst and former Jacksonville Jaguar Maurice Jones-Drew discusses what the Jags should do in the 2020 draft.

Despite the tireless work he puts into being a sports analyst, former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew often makes the time to talk about his former team throughout the years. That was the case this year when he joined Jaguars.com’s Brian Sexton to discuss the current state of the team and league.

In the last part of their 1-on-1, Sexton asked Jones-Drew who are some players that would excite him if the Jags acquired them on opening night and Jones-Drew said Clemson linebacker, Isaiah Simmons. He continued to call him the best player in the draft then explained why it would be important for the Jags to add an elite player like him to their defense.

“If you’re going to give Gardner [Minshew] an opportunity to remain the starting quarterback like I’ve heard multiple times and all the reports we’ve heard, I’d want to better this defense because when that unit was one of the best in the league you had more opportunities offensively,” Jones-Drew said. “[Back in 2017] it gave Blake Bortles and the offense more chances to score. Remember that time where Blake got hot for about a month and the Jags were the scariest team in the league? They had a top defense and a hot quarterback. It was like, Woah! So, in my mind, I want to go back to that.”

Simmons undoubtedly would add a very versatile piece to the Jags’ defense. Of the many positions he could play, the Jags would probably put him at safety as the linebacking corps and nickelback position have established starters.

As for Jones-Drew’s statements about building up the defense, he certainly makes a solid point. The problem with that is the fact that the unit has so many holes to the point where it could take a while to build up. That said, it would be much easier to address the offensive side as they have the most talent on the team and are just a player or two away from being an impressive group.

Either way, the Jags can come out of this draft with a solid nucleus as they have 12 picks. Simply put, if they stick to a best available player approach, they will come out of the draft greatly improved.